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Discover DNA!

“What makes you you, what makes me me
shapes every living thing you see.
We're all related in a way, because we all have DNA!”*

Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA for short, is the chemical that’s found in the nucleus (middle part) of the cells of all living things. Cells are the building blocks of all life forms (from humans to worms to palm trees).

Your DNA is like your thumbprint. It is yours and yours alone. Unless you have an identical twin, no one else on the planet has exactly the same DNA as you.

The DNA is shaped like spiral stairs and is grouped into genes. Your genome (the group of all of the genes you have) contains about 35,000 genes. Each single gene carries information, like an instruction manual, that tells certain cells in your body what to do. If you think of your genome as the book that makes you, then the genes are the words that make up the story.

DNA determines your traits – the special features that make you you! Some traits are more common than others, like having five fingers or being able to curl your tongue. But other traits are harder to find, like being able to raise one eyebrow or wiggle your ears.

So, DNA is made up of genes, genes make cells, cells make you!

Fun Fact: If you uncoiled all of the DNA from one human CELL it would be six feet long!

Frances Crick and James Watson are the two scientists who won the Nobel Prize for figuring out the structure of DNA.

 

 

 


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