Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our LivesWhat makes us the way we are? Some say its the genes we inherit at conception. Others are sure its the environment we experience in childhood. But could it be that many of our individual characteristicsour health, our intelligence, our temperamentsare influenced by the conditions we encountered before birth? What makes us the way we are? Some say its the genes we inherit at conception. Others are sure its the environment we experience in childhood.