Ira Flatow

Roxanne Kamsey is a science writer and author of the new book, Beyond Inheritance, Our Ever-Mutating Cells and a New Understanding of Health.

She's based in Montreal, Quebec.

Nice to have you.

Okay.

You know, most of us think about our DNA as it's static, it's stable, kind of like a personal ID number.

How should we be thinking about how our DNA changes over the course of our lives?

Why are mutations so rampant then in our cells?

In your book, you use this metaphor of the mosaic to describe how our cells grow and change over time.

Why mosaic?

You know, when we think of genetic mutations that cause disease, I think we're often thinking about the ones that get passed down from our family tree, like Tay-Sachs or sickle cell.

Is there a difference between inherited mutations versus the ones that develop over the course of our lives?

Interesting.

I think many of us are familiar with the term epigenetics, the idea that our environment, our life experience can have effect on how our genes are expressed.

Is that different from the mutation you're talking about in our DNA?

Yeah, yeah.

Let's get into some specifics, if you might.

You talked about the white blood cell before.

You write about how blood cell mutations can lead to heart attack and stroke.

I was kind of surprised that I had no idea mutations were at play here.

What's going on?