The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.Many recent studies have demonstrated that stressful conditions that are experienced by parents can influence the offspring’s vulnerability to many pathological conditions, including psychopathologies—primarily related to a disruption in stress response mechanisms. These effects may even endure for several generations. Nevertheless, the mechanisms of this phenomenon have not been detailed, and only recently have scientists examined epigenetics (i.e., heritable traits) to answer this question. . ..Initially, and for a long time, parental influences on an offspring’s development were focused on two possible sources of variance: genes and the environment. Some scientists concentrated on how “slow and still” information could be transmitted to subsequent generations. The phylogenetic (i.e., genetic determinants) perspective was thus a central assumption, more or less implicit. The premise was that genes themselves carry on blindly: the luckiest genes that are most well suited for the present environmental conditions “win” and endure.This idea fits well with the Darwinian concept of adaptation as an all-or-nothing process, which can be recalled easily from the collective imaginary through such terms as “survival,” “reproductive power,” and “law of large numbers.” Those who survive live longer, thus theoretically increasing the probability of finding a mate and reproducing. This can be surely the case, but this theory alone is insufficient to explain phylogenetic development.Conversely, an alternate perspective has focused on another form of adaptation, residing conceptually inside the lifespan of each individual: ontogenetic (i.e., environmental influences) development. In the previous gene-centred model, ontogenesis was sub ordered to phylogenies and was considered a mechanistic unfolding of a predefined genetic program. This idea was progressively revisited when the central “dogma” of molecular biology proposed by Crick [in]1958 was redefined and complemented in light of the growing evidence on the complexity and bi-directionality of gene expression-related processes [by] Gottlieb [in] 2007. Soon, the environment appeared through the concept of plasticity and “critical periods” of development. Then, its role became wider when certain authors began discussing “sensitive periods” and environmental programming.Yet, for a long time, genes and the environment were considered two separate aspects that interacted at the level of the phenotype. Even epigenetics was conceived of as being able to modify the genetic impact on an individual’s organization but remaining inside his existence (i.e., acting only during his lifespan). Until then, there was only one way in which the past could inform the coming new life: genes and parental care. Only when it was demonstrated that epigenetic modifications could be inherited did the ontogenetic and phylogenetic worlds—which for years had approached each other in an asymptotic, exhaustive manner—finally merge at a new, theoretical intersection: epigenetic inheritance. . ..In recent years, many scientists have hypothesized and even demonstrated that certain experiences during the life of an individual influence the development of his offspring, even distally. It appears that some experiences modify genetic expression, influencing: 1. how the organism itself responds to a changeable environment (i.e., more ontogenetic flexibility—direct or synchronous effect) and 2. how his descendants will increase their likelihood of surviving in a specific environment—that is, how information is transmitted to offspring regarding the environment that they will encounter (i.e., more phylogenetic flexibility—indirect and both synchronous and asynchronous effects).Question No 4.Each of the following can invalidate the recent hypothesis of many scientists EXCEPT:1)  if it is demonstrated that the epigenetic changes caused by environmental experiences do not significantly enhance evolutionary fitness.2)  if it is shown that environmental influences affect only the individual and do not extend to their descendants.3)  If most studies demonstrating epigenetic inheritance are conducted on a limited number of species under very specific conditions.4)  if epigenetic changes are shown to be easily reversible and do not persist across multiple generations.