The finding is "a complete nightmare," says Dubrova... "I expected to find nothing in the grandchildren" of irradiated mice, he says, "but no, they show exactly the same increase in germ line mutation rate."

"The remarkable finding that radiation-induced germ-line instability persists for at least two generations raises important issues of risk evaluation in humans," the journal report says.

Rays from space cause inheritable good mutations = evolution? - Hundreds of scientists are studying outbursts of mutation causing rays from the Sun, stars and black holes. Other scholars are trying to prove that our DNA repair system can be selective, and leave good mutations unrepaired. And now we have the first evidence of (good?) mutations being passed down through generations.

Washington Post HealthScout