Fence lizard (IMAGE) Penn State Caption The team found that the male offspring of corticosterone-treated mothers had telomeres that were more than 20% shorter than those from control mothers. In contrast, the telomere lengths of the mothers were unaffected by the mothers' exposure to corticosterone. Credit Braulio Assis, Penn State Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.