DNA, Determinism and Free Will
In probing the operation of DNA, scientists have learned much more about a second biological encyclopedia of information (in addition to the “genome”) that resides above the primary information stored within our DNA. Researchers have discovered a complex system of in the cell – sophisticated “software” situated beyond DNA – that directs DNA’s functions and is responsible for our embryonic development and the differentiation of a single fertilized egg cell into more than two hundred cell types in a mature body…. This “information beyond DNA” plays a crucial role in each of our 60 trillion cells, telling the genes exactly when, where, and how they are to be expressed. This is biology’s mysterious new frontier – the epigenome.