![natural-selection-in-the-womb-can-explain-health-problems-in-adulthood](https://utterbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/natural-selection-in-the-womb-can-explain-health-problems-in-adulthood-640x640.jpg)
Conditions encountered in the womb can have life-long impact on health. Scientists previously assumed this is because embryos respond to adverse conditions by programming their gene expression. Now scientists report a radically different alternative. Rather than being programmed by the environment, random differences in gene expression may provide some embryos with a survival advantage. The researchers found that a specific part of the DNA methylation pattern was missing among famine-exposed individuals.