somebody's got some 'splaining to do

http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=45

Ask a Geneticist

by Dr. Barry Starr, Stanford University

Can a couple (one with straight hair, one with curly) have one straight haired child and one curly haired, and one of the children has green eyes and the other blue? Both parents have green. Is this possible?

.... (answer) ...

Originally posted by zeeblebot
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=45

Ask a Geneticist

by Dr. Barry Starr, Stanford University

Can a couple (one with straight hair, one with curly) have one straight haired child and one curly haired, and one of the children has green eyes and the other blue? Both parents have green. Is this possible?

.... (answer) ...

Just have a DNA test man, it might be neither one is yours. 😕

Originally posted by Ice Cold
Just have a DNA test man, it might be neither one is yours. 😕

Dang!

Lulz

😛

Originally posted by Seitse
Dang!

Lulz

😛

The only reason I checked the thread out was it was Zeebz, and I thought it was about I love Lucy. 😕

Zeeeby! Juse gots some 'splainin' to do. 😕

Originally posted by zeeblebot
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=45

Ask a Geneticist

by Dr. Barry Starr, Stanford University

Can a couple (one with straight hair, one with curly) have one straight haired child and one curly haired, and one of the children has green eyes and the other blue? Both parents have green. Is this possible?

.... (answer) ...

Some people might say:

Put it to the Science forum!

And I believe they are right. The stuff in the article is not beyond what you would probably call High-School Biology...so what is your point?

Originally posted by zeeblebot
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=45

Ask a Geneticist

by Dr. Barry Starr, Stanford University

Can a couple (one with straight hair, one with curly) have one straight haired child and one curly haired, and one of the children has green eyes and the other blue? Both parents have green. Is this possible?

.... (answer) ...

http://www.athro.com/evo/gen/genefr2.html

A person with green eyes will have two blue bey2 genes, because any other combination of bey2 genes would give brown eyes.

The greenness comes from the gey gene (adolescent snickering encouraged). Each parent has at least one green gey gene. The other might be green or blue.

If each parent has only one green gey gene, the child could come out with blue eyes or green eyes.

While researching the hair question, I found Dr. Starr's answer, which would be pointless to repeat here as you left it out intentionally. However I will point out that he says green eyed parents can have a brown eyed child rarely, which suggests my model of the genetics is simplified and that there's more going on.

my eyes are greenish brown ... and i seem to recall they change, get browner the more sunlight i get, greener the less .... dad grey, mom brown, one brother grey, the others i don't know.

same with hair, a couple of my sibs were blonde when they were little, turned chestnut when they got older ...

you could have green eyes and still carry a gene for brown, i guess ....

seems to me that all kids have grey eyes when they are born ... read that or noticed it in my kids ...

the link in the OP has other interesting questions. maybe your students would like it.

My dad's a fair-skinned red-head and my mum is blonde but I still turned out brown with curly black hair. Just goes to show that genetics isnt everything.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
My dad's a fair-skinned red-head and my mum is blonde but I still turned out brown with curly black hair. Just goes to show that genetics isnt everything.

Or that Daddy isn't the Daddy.

Mama's baby, Papa's maybe..................

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Or that Daddy isn't the Daddy.

Apparently, genetic testing has shown about 10% of people don't have the biological father that they thought they did. This is pretty consistent across nationality and class.

I remember seeing a talk on ancient Irish surnames and Y-chromsome markers and the estimate of promiscuity was that ~10% of children are raised by fathers unkowningly that were another man's child. Ireland has one of the oldest systems of patrilineal hereditary surnames in the world and so is particularly suited to this type of study. See:
http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2007/12/28/famous-dna-review-part-iii-niall-of-the-nine-hostages/

Brian McEvoy1 and Daniel G. Bradley1 Contact Information
(1) Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Received: 1 November 2005 Accepted: 12 December 2005 Published online: 12 January 2006
Abstract Ireland has one of the oldest systems of patrilineal hereditary surnames in the world. Using the paternal co-inheritance of Y-chromosome DNA and Irish surnames, we examined the extent to which modern surname groups share a common male-line ancestor and the general applicability of Y-chromosomes in uncovering surname origins and histories. DNA samples were collected from 1,125 men, bearing 43 different surnames, and each was genotyped for 17 Y-chromosome short tandem repeat (STR) loci. A highly significant proportion of the observed Y-chromosome diversity was found between surnames demonstrating their demarcation of real and recent patrilineal kinship. On average, a man has a 30-fold increased chance of sharing a 17 STR Y-chromosome haplotype with another man of the same surname but the extent of congruence between the surname and haplotype varies widely between surnames and we attributed this to differences in the number of early founders. Some surnames such as O’Sullivan and Ryan have a single major ancestor, whereas others like Murphy and Kelly have numerous founders probably explaining their high frequency today. Notwithstanding differences in their early origins, all surnames have been extensively affected by later male introgession. None examined showed more than about half of current bearers still descended from one original founder indicating dynamic and continuously evolving kinship groupings. Precisely because of this otherwise cryptic complexity there is a substantial role for the Y-chromosome and a molecular genealogical approach to complement and expand existing sources.