GENETICS

Have you ever noticed the how similar your appearance is to your parents? Well, that's all thanks to genetics. That fact that we inherit certain traits like eye color, height, and hair color remind us of what our parents gives us, while helping us remember past generations. Each parent passes down their genes to their child. From the mother, the child receives half its genes, and from its father the child inherits the other half. These genes are either dominant (more likely to show) or recessive. One may show the dominant trait, but be a carrier for the recessive trait. This is your phenotype: the trait that appears in the offspring. Genotypes, on the other hand, are the genetic make-up; this person would be heterozygous dominant. If one makes a physical change, like dying your hair, this trait of dyed hair is not passed down to the next generation. Only a change in the egg and sperm cell would cause a genetic change, or mutation.      

Punnett Square