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Genetics has become a very popular word. With that popularity has come myth and misunderstanding. But the concept of the field of genetics is really quite simple. Genetics deals with the instruction manual on how to build a human. To be exact, a Google search gave the definition of genetics as “the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics.”

One analogy is to view the instructions on how to build a human as a book, passed on from generation to generation, which is called inherited. The book is divided into chapters called chromosomes. The chapters have paragraphs called genes, and the words are made from a very simple alphabet. And just in case you are feeling special, the majority of the book, (99 percent) has the same chapters as the manual for building a chimpanzee. Also, the person you think is, well, “different,” actually has the same 99.9 percent of your genetic code. Reassuringly, given the size of the genetic code, that is still over three million differences.

The estimate is that the human genetic code has over 3 billion units, which is huge, but the lowly Amoeba dubia has over 670 billion units. So, it really is not how you say it but what you say that matters.