Nature, Nurture, and human diversity lecture

Question 1

What are chromosomes?

Answer 1

They are threadlike structures made up of DNA molecules

• chromos in Greek means color
• Somo in Greek means body
• so together they mean color body

Question 2

How many chromosomes do we have?

Answer 2

23 pairs or 46 total

Question 3

How do you know why type of chromosomes males have?

Answer 3

If there is a presence of a Y chromosome its a male

Question 4

How do you know why type of chromosomes females have?

Answer 4

Absence of Y chromosome means its a female

Question 5

Define DNA

Answer 5

“Complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes”

Question 6

What are Genes?

Answer 6

“The biochemical units of heredity that make up chromosomes”

Question 7

What is a genome?

Answer 7

“The complete instructions for making an organism”

Question 8

What is natural selection?

Answer 8

“The principle that those traits contributing to reproduction & survival will most likely be passed down to succeeding generations.”

Question 9

Who is Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Answer 9

• Botany student at Cambridge University. His professor got him appointed as Ships Botanist on the HMS Beagle
• They stopped at the Galapagos Islands, he saw a variety of familiar plants he’d never seen before
• Once home, many were identified as new variations of familiar plants and animals
• Being an amateur pigeon breeder, Darwin knew something about variations
• 14 yrs after writing down his ideas, Darwin was convinced to publish them (after Alfred Russell Wallace came to the same conclusions)
• A year later, in 1859, he published “On the Origin of Species,” a book detailing his ideas about Natural Selection

Question 10

What are mutations?

Answer 10

“A random error in the gene replication that leads to a change in the sequence of nucleotides”

Question 11

What are behavior genetics?

Answer 11

“Scientific study of the inheritance of behavioral tendencies”

• Those individuals with genes that lead to advantageous behaviors (survival/reproduction) are most likely to survive & pass those genes to their children

Question 12

What are fraternal twins?

Answer 12

“Twins who develop from separate eggs; they are no closer than normal siblings, but share a fetal environment”

Question 13

What are identical twins?

Answer 13

“Twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms”