Scientists long believed that epigenetic modifications were not inherited by the next generation, but rather reset when a new individual was born, because modifications of this kind employ tools such as methylation to regulate gene function without affecting the DNA base sequence. However, research has shown methylation beginning again in the offspring’s somatic cells after fertilization. More specifically, it would appear that, rather than DNA methylation itself being inherited directly, a mechanism for reactivating methylation was at work. We therefore cannot deny the possibility that characteristics acquired by the parent might be passed on to the next generation.