What is heredity? Detailed answer

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What is heredity? Detailed answer

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What is heredity?

Every organism, be it a plant, a fish, an animal, or a human being, resembles its parents, but is nevertheless different from them. For example, children may resemble one parent or the other, but they usually share some of the traits of each parent. The thing is that parents pass on certain properties to children, and children "inherit" them. So, heredity is the study of how offspring acquire resemblance to their parents. The unit of heredity is called a "gene".

Genes are large molecules found in the nuclei of both sperm and egg cells. Inside the nucleus of each cell are long thin spirals or threads. They are called chromosomes and carry genes. Since chromosomes occur in pairs, their genes are also paired. A cell's chromosomes can contain hundreds of thousands of pairs of genes. Each gene pair controls one or more characteristics of an organism, such as hair color, nose shape, body size, etc.

There are many laws of heredity, which means that the process occurs in certain directions. For example, each trait that is inherited depends on a simple "factor", and each factor behaves independently. Because certain traits are inherited from parents, this does not mean that every other trait will inevitably be inherited as well.

In other words, factors or genes are not related to each other. Some genes are dominant while others are recessive. For example, the genes for curly hair are dominant over the genes for straight hair. When both parents are curly, they usually have curly children as well. But if every parent carries the recessive gene for straight hair, some children may have straight hair. Scientists have studied human traits such as eye, hair, and skin color, so they can usually tell how such traits are inherited by people whose family histories have been known for generations.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

What is tapioca?

Tapioca is a starch cereal made from the roots of a large shrub grown in warm climates. This plant is called cassava. Its roots are one-third starch and two-thirds water, and it takes a long time to make tapioca from them.

First of all, the cassava roots are washed and cleaned from the outer shell. They are then placed in water and soaked for several days, and are sometimes cut into small pieces or pounded into a paste instead. This paste can be used directly for cooking, or it can be dried and made into flour. In the production of cassava, finely chopped roots are mixed well with clean water and this mixture is allowed to stand for a while. Grains of pure starch slowly settle to the bottom, and all the dirt remains in suspension in the water.

Then the starch is removed and poured into a new portion of water. This operation is repeated 4-5 times. When the starch is absolutely pure, it is spread evenly on a metal dish and fried over low heat. Gradually, the grains of starch, softening, begin to stick together and eventually form small balls - grits. The resulting product is called tapioca.

Most of the tapioca in Europe and the United States is brought from the island of Java, Madagascar and Brazil. In Europe and the United States, tapioca is made into puddings or added to soups and sauces. However, in South America and Africa, it is consumed as a paste or dry flour.

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