29 Mar 03
1 edit
=genetics is never as simple as a+b/2=c. An oversimple example:
What I meant about Darwanism was in a generation sense:
Tall parents have children near average height etc.
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Parent A has 1 tall gene & 1 short gene
Parent B has 1 tall gene & 1 short gene
the tall gene is dominant, which means it overrides the short gene, and both parents are tall.
each child gets 1 of each gene type from it's parent. If a child gets 1 tall and one short gene, or 2 tall genes they will be tall because the tall gene overrides the short one. But if the child gets 2 short genes (one from each parent) they will be short.
As I said, this is massively oversimplified. No one gene controls height, but instead many interact to dictate what hight you'll be. And then you get environmental effects that change this too (eg. poor diet means you won't be as tall, and is why each generation is getting taller at the moment, as diet improves)