eli5 why older parents above 40 year age..genes are bad for the child like austism and other mental disorder..is age matter in child capability?
In: Biology
Because our genetic material mutates as we age. Egg cells at 40 are 40 years old, they are the same egg cells a woman was born with and aged with her ; many things could have happened that could have damaged the DNA in those 40 years, so the chance of having a mutation that’s bad for the child is higher than say in mother’s 20s. Sperm, while not directly affected by aging (the sperm cells are created anew daily), can still suffer damage because the rest of the body is aging and accumulating damage to DNA.
Out of curiosity…did something happen while you were writing the title? Or just aggressive autocorrect?
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