Have you ever thought that whenever some relative comes to your house their first remark is how similar you look to your mom or dad or uncle or grandmother or grandfather or some other distant cousin!

How can one person look similar to so many people in the family?

Do each of us carry some secret code in our bodies from each of our ancestors that make us resemble our family members.

Yes ! we do carry a lot of information about our family from our parents. These are called genes. It is the genes that we carry in our bodies that decide how we will look, our physical appearance, our artistic skills, how we smile and many more things.

These genes are in turn made up of DNA –deoxyribonucleic acid. Phew! So let us just call it DNA as most of the people do. DNA is found in billions of cells that make up  your body. If you look at it under a microscope it would appear like a twisted ladder.

Each gene has a special job to do. It carries the secret – for defining your unique characteristics. Genes come in pairs. Each of your biological parents has two copies of each of their genes, and each parent passes along just one copy to make up the genes you have. Genes that are passed on to you determine many of your traits, such as your hair type and skin type.

I think I have said enough!

Gene-ius Facts:
Did you know that over 25% of human genes are the same as those of a simple banana?
Humans share 98.6% of genes with the good old chimpanzee! Now don’t take offence if someone calls u a chimp :)