Heredity and reproduction

Similarities among family members have been recognized for thousands of years, but only in the last couple centuries have we really started to understand how family traits get passed on.

Genetics - is the study of heredity and variation of organisms.

Heredity - Heredity is the passing on of traits from ancestors to their descendants through the genes. Because of heredity, offspring usually resemble their parents, so that cats have kittens and pumpkin seeds produce pumpkin plants.

Variation - Genetic variation is when differences occur among individuals within the same population or species. Variation may result from mutation, or simply from the different combinations of the parents' genes.

If the human genome were a book, it would be about the size of 800 dictionaries. All that inside a microscopic nucleus that could easily fit on the head of a pin! More about size of the human genome...