Genetics R Us

Well, let's think about it for a moment. It is true that you probably resemble your parents greatly. I mean, I know that I tremendously look like my father. Therefore, my dad must have passed something to me. The key is figure out what that something is. So you can understand a little better, let's take a look at a simple organism, a plant. So what would you, the reader, do next? You'd probably open up the plant to see what was inside it.

If you do that, you'd notice that the plant has certain stuff inside it. But that wouldn't help. I mean, if you look inside someone's mouth, you'd see teeth, a tongue, tonsils, and you might smell some bad breath as well.

So what would you do next? You'd probably want to open up the plant even further. You'd could open up the stuff inside the plant in order to see what makes it up. That makes sense. Of course, we don't have to stop there. We could go even further. In other words, what is that which is fundamental. Fundamental basically means what is that which something is basically made of such that we could no longer break it down further. You probably heard that everything is composed of atoms. At least that what scientists first thought. It turns out that atoms aren't fundamental. Atoms are made of smaller things. So now the question is this!

Let's find out what is fundamental about a plant. If we look at a plant's leaf up closely, you'd see that it's made up of small, round structures that are called cells. In other words, the leaf is made of leaf cells.

But it doesn't stop there!!! Oh no. Don't think that. You guessed it. The whole entire plant is made of cells. The plant's stem is composed of stem cells. It's petals are made of petal cells, and so on and so on. As it turns out, the same is true for us humans. We are composed of cells too. Don't believe me, well take a look at this next cool animation and tell me what ya think!!

Like the plant, we can open up a human as well. If we do that, you'll notice that we, like a plant, have parts, which are made of cells. Our bones are made bone cells, skin is made of skin cells.

In fact, if you are sitting in front of your computer and reading this web site, then you began your life as a single cell. It all started with your parents. Here's how it works!!! And trust me, I'll be really delicate with this scenario.

Your parents produced two very special cells known as a sperm and an egg cell. Men can produce sperm cells at anytime they wish. Women, on the other hand, can produce an egg cell once a month. A single sperm cell fused with a single egg cell. The result was a single fertilized egg cell.

Not is our entire body made of cells, but your body is made from many different types of cells. There are some cells that are so different that they look really weird. For example, a skin cell looks very much different from a nerve cell.

Cells are what make up all living things, from the bacteria that floats in your mouth, to the very person that is sitting right now in front of the computer terminal reading this web page. With that in mind, let's take a closer look at some of the various cells in your body so you can get to know them a little bit better.

Of all the cells in your body, probably the most important are the sperm and egg cells. These are the cells that used to create a new living person. This is true for all animals, including yourself.

Another group of important cells are your blood cells. Blood cells are part of the transport system. They carry important substances to other parts of your body. Your blood cells are made of two types, red and white blood cells. White blood cells make up the immune system which protects you from viruses, and other bad things. Red blood cells actually make up the transport system.

Next on list are nerve cells. Nerve cells carry electrical signals throughout your body. This causes your body to be able to move. Nerve cells are the longest cells in your body. A lot of research has been done on nerve cells. Much of what is known is due to work done on a creature known as the giant squid.

Along with nerve cells, muscle cells cause movement too. Nerve cells anchor themselves into muscle cells. Muscle cells receive an electrical signal from a nerve cell and the result is that your muscle contracts. Muscle cells are the target of many diseases.

There are many more cells that make up your body. They include brain cells, bone cells, skins cells and many more. Your cells are important, but it's the stuff inside of your cells is what we are now going to focus on. In the next section, we are going to open up a cell and take a neat peek inside the cell so that we can see what's really going on.

Also, check out Howstuffworks! This guy named Marshall Brain has created a business that explains how things works. The material is presented in a cool, and easy manner that makes it one of the most popular sites around.