Page 271 - (DK) I Can’t Believe It! 2

TRUE OR FALSE? 269
We share 96% of TWO BROWN-EYED
FAST FACTS

our DNA with chimps of people has PARENTS CAN HAVE A
Which group
radioactive
BLUE-EYED CHILD
DNA?

As long as both parents carry the gene
for blue eyes, it is possible for them to
have a blue-eyed child. Human eye color
is determined by multiple genes and the
process is so complex that almost any
parent-child combination can occur.
Human: 100%
ALL HUMANS HAVE
UNIQUE DNA—
Fruit fly: 60% Cow: 80%
EVEN IDENTICAL TWINS

Almost all (99.9 percent) of human DNA
sequences are the same in every person.
However, our genetic make-up is made
of more than three billion letters, so the
Cat: 90% Banana: 50% remaining 0.1 percent leaves room for a lot of
differences. Identical twins begin life with the
same DNA but, as they grow and letters are
copied, different “typos” happen in each twin,
meaning their DNA is not exactly the same.
ALL LIVING
HUMANS CAN
BE TRACED
BACK TO ONE
COMMON ANCESTOR
IN AFRICA

“Mitochondrial Eve,” who lived up to 200,000
years ago, was the most recent ancestor of
all humans alive today, if their ancestry is
traced through the female line (mitochondrial).
English naturalist Charles Darwin was the
first to propose the common descent of
all living organisms.

US_268_269_309600_Genetics.indd 269 19/12/17 3:49 pm