Epigenetics is the study of how genes, the building blocks of life, change over the course of our lifetimes. Genes act as a molecular code for all of our traits and play an essential role in both our development and our everyday function as adults. This code is not static though; it is constantly being manipulated by our environment. While the genes themselves do not change, which genes are actively being used changes with great frequency. The genome is full of molecular tags, like bookmarks, telling the body where to look for specific information. When epigenetics makes a change to the genome, it will alter where that bookmark is placed, directing the body to use a different section and create a different result. Most importantly, these bookmark changes will be passed down from generation to generation. An epigenetic change made by the body of your grandmother could, and likely is, still with you today.

Poverty disadvantages the playing field of life, but this research suggests a far deeper meaning. It has previously been postulated that communities living in poverty have trouble gaining status because of their limited access to resources, healthcare, and clean environments. While these reasons are certainly all still valid, the idea that genetic changes could be at play as well deepens the divide. Even if individuals who have been through poverty are able to ascend social ranks, they will carry genetic markers of disadvantage with them for the rest of their lives. Even someone who has never been through poverty but whose family has suffered in the past, may be at risk for the same lack of genetic opportunity. We know that poverty limits opportunity, but now we understand that the opportunity lost may be under our very skin.