Hi guys!!! So, we have been doing some end of year stuffs and we did a like a On-demand essay on anything. here it is:

Intro to Heredity with Claire Breslow

So, let’s say you have blue eyes, but…. your mom and dad have brown eyes. So, where did you get your blue eyes? This is where heredity comes in. Heredity is the genes that get passed down from family member to family member, but you are going to need a bit of a scientific background on this. Let’s get started.

Cells are the smallest living organism you can find. There are unicellular living things, which have only one cell, but there are multicellular living things too, with multiple cells. You, for example, are multicellular. In a cell, there’s a nucleus, which is like that cells headquarters. In a nucleus, there is DNA. DNA is basically the code for our genetics. DNA is tightly packed, VERY tightly packed, into things called chromosomes. Chromosomes are made of DNA, and they usually look like an X, but you can never be sure. Each half of a chromosome is called a chromatid. Each part of a chromosome makes up some of your genes, and that is where we will begin.

Let’s use something simple for you to understand. Earlobes. There are two types of earlobes, attached, and free. The free earlobe, is dominant, meaning only one piece of DNA has to be preset for the trait to show. But attached earlobes are recessive, so two of them have to be present for the trait to show. We can represent free earlobes with a capital E, and attached, with a lowercase e. So, if you have attached earlobes, you would be represented with ee. But, if you have free earlobes, you can be EE, or Ee, because as I said, the dominant trait can be shown, even if only on is present.

Okay, now that you know the basics of heredity, we can get a little more advanced. Here’s the question, how can you tell what gene a baby will have. (We are still using earlobes) So, let’s say, one parent has free earlobes, EE. But the other parent, has Ee. So what will their baby be? Let’s find out. Draw a square on a piece of paper. Then you divide the square into four parts. You put the Ee parent on the top, and the EE parent on the left side. Put the Ee parents E on top of the top left square. Then put that parents e on top of the top right square. Then put EE parent’s first E on the left side of the top left square, and do the same to the other E on the bottom left square. Whoof, that was confusing. Now see if you can follow me here. Line each of the e’s up in each the squares. So, the top left square should have EE,and the bottom left square also has EE, but the top right square has Ee, and the bottom right square also says Ee. Now you know that there is a 50% chance that the baby is EE, and a 50% chance it will be Ee. So, no matter what, the baby will have free earlobes. This method is called a punnet square, and it is very helpful.

Now, you know some stuff about heredity, but this is just the Need To Know facts. Heredity is a SUPER LARGE field and you should keep on studying. Just saying the Ameba Sisters biology videos got me hooked on heredity and made me know everything that I am telling you now. So, KEEP CALM AND TRACK YOUR TRAITS!!!