Carl Zimmer

and how you tie to the past is no simple job at all.

I don't think science can really deliver us the definitive answer for those sorts of questions.

But you hear people say that.

I mean, I've said that about my daughter.

And I'll hear other people talking about some trait.

And we're very convinced that that's where it came from.

And to me, this underlying science is so fascinating and complex.

There's genes, there are other kinds of molecules, there's culture, there are all sorts of things that

go into making this connection between the past and the present.

But if you want to really prove that you have your mother's laugh, science isn't quite ready to help you out just yet.

Well, culture is really kind of like a separate channel of heredity that we humans have.

I mean, we humans are really extraordinary that we really have a completely different channel of heredity that other species don't have.

So, you know, we can give information, knowledge, customs to our children, to future generations.

through language and through learning and so on.

I mean, we're the only species where there's really good evidence of teaching.

That's really remarkable because what that means is that it's not like every generation has to just relearn how to crack open a nut with a rock.

You can teach children how to do it.

And then when they grow up, they could get better at it and they can teach their kids that as well.

And so you have this

heredity of culture that's traveling down.