Introduction to Genetics:
Introduction to Genetics:
In the 19th century an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel invented the fundamental principles of what is known today as genetics. He stated these principles after conducting experiments on peas and observing the same traits. He noticed that the traits were inherited seperately and they did not affect each other. He came to the conclusion that the parents had two copies of some kind of "factor" that determines the trait, but they contributed only one to their offspring. These "factors" are what today we call genes.
Real work after Mendel's initial discoveries began in 1900, 36 years after Mendel published his work. The science flourished and became what it is today. Because of genetics, we can find ways to stop a hereditary disease before it starts. We are currently researching ways of fighting diseases such as AIDS based on a genetic approach, and we possess the ability to actually tweak the very fibers of what makes an organism what it is, raising philosophical questions such as "should humans really be playing God?"
We, the authors of this page, are all interested in genetics because of its current applications, and the future that the human race may have because of it. One of the authors, David Kagan, has a genetic disease called scoliosis, which made him want to learn a lot about how it is inherited and generally how genes work.