Genetics & Evolution Portal

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animals that are so familiar to us today may have been harder to spot millions of years ago. The theory of evolution, one of the keystones of modern biological theory, is based on the idea that living things on Earth can be traced back to other preexisting types and that the differences are due to modifications that occurred over successive generations. Genetics, an essential part of the study of evolution, looks at the inheritance of characteristics by children from their parents. It can help explain how you got your mom's green eyes or why your hair is red even though your parents are brunettes.</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <h2 class="label my-30">Genetics & Evolution Encyclopedia Articles</h2> <div class="grid top g-10 mb-40"> <div class="col-33 col-sm-20 col-md-16 col-lg-10"> <div class="border shadow p-10 text-center "> <a class="font-weight-bold font-14 " href="/browse/Genetics-Evolution/1">100-EHR</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-33 col-sm-20 col-md-16 col-lg-10"> <div class="border shadow p-10 text-center "> <a class="font-weight-bold font-14 " href="/browse/Genetics-Evolution/2">EIS-KOR</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-33 col-sm-20 col-md-16 col-lg-10"> <div class="border shadow p-10 text-center "> <a class="font-weight-bold font-14 " href="/browse/Genetics-Evolution/3">KRA-RET</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-33 col-sm-20 col-md-16 col-lg-10"> <div class="border shadow p-10 text-center "> <a class="font-weight-bold font-14 " href="/browse/Genetics-Evolution/4">RIB-YOU</a> </div> </div> </div> <h2 class="label my-30 text-center">Featured Articles</h2> <div class="js-pinboard grid gy-20"> <div class="p-10 d-inline-flex js-pin col-100 col-sm-33 col-md-25 "> <div class="card text-normal col-100 "> <div class="card-media position-relative"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/missing-link" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/images/shared/default3.png?v=3.130.14" class="default col-100" /> </a> </div> <div class="col"> <div class="card-body text-hyphenate"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/missing-link" class="font-weight-bold font-16 lh-sm">missing link</a> <div class="font-serif mt-10 font-14"> Missing link, hypothetical extinct creature halfway in the evolutionary line between modern human beings and their anthropoid progenitors. In the latter half of the 19th century, a common misinterpretation... </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="p-10 d-inline-flex js-pin col-100 col-sm-33 col-md-25 "> <div class="card text-normal col-100 "> <div class="card-media position-relative"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/speciation" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/53/106753-050-14DCA1D1/species.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop" alt="evolution: new species" class="col-100" /> </a> </div> <div class="col"> <div class="card-body text-hyphenate"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/speciation" class="font-weight-bold font-16 lh-sm">speciation</a> <div class="font-serif mt-10 font-14"> Speciation, the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution. Speciation involves the splitting of a single evolutionary lineage into two or more genetically independent lineages. (Read... </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="p-10 d-inline-flex js-pin col-100 col-sm-33 col-md-25 "> <div class="card text-normal col-100 "> <div class="card-media position-relative"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/human-evolution" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/36/79536-050-BE1C475B/human-lineage-hominins-members-lineages-apes-interpretations.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop" alt="human lineage" class="col-100" /> </a> </div> <div class="col"> <div class="card-body text-hyphenate"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/human-evolution" class="font-weight-bold font-16 lh-sm">human evolution</a> <div class="font-serif mt-10 font-14"> Human evolution, the process by which human beings developed on Earth from now-extinct primates. Viewed zoologically, we humans are Homo sapiens, a culture-bearing upright-walking species that lives on... </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="p-10 d-inline-flex js-pin col-100 col-sm-33 col-md-25 "> <div class="card text-normal col-100 "> <div class="card-media position-relative"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Darwinism" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/images/shared/default3.png?v=3.130.14" class="default col-100" /> </a> </div> <div class="col"> <div class="card-body text-hyphenate"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Darwinism" class="font-weight-bold font-16 lh-sm">Darwinism</a> <div class="font-serif mt-10 font-14"> Darwinism, theory of the evolutionary mechanism propounded by Charles Darwin as an explanation of organic change. It denotes Darwin鈥檚 specific view that evolution is driven mainly by natural selection.... </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="p-10 d-inline-flex js-pin col-100 col-sm-33 col-md-25 "> <div class="card text-normal col-100 "> <div class="card-media position-relative"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/mosaic-evolution" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/images/shared/default3.png?v=3.130.14" class="default col-100" /> </a> </div> <div class="col"> <div class="card-body text-hyphenate"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/mosaic-evolution" class="font-weight-bold font-16 lh-sm">mosaic evolution</a> <div class="font-serif mt-10 font-14"> Mosaic evolution, the occurrence, within a given population of organisms, of different rates of evolutionary change in various body structures and functions. An example can be seen in the patterns of development... </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="p-10 d-inline-flex js-pin col-100 col-sm-33 col-md-25 "> <div class="card text-normal col-100 "> <div class="card-media position-relative"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/adaptation-biology-and-physiology" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/98/21998-138-23845F08/species-finches-Galapagos-each-other-beak-structure.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop" alt="Evolution and diversity in Galapagos finches" class="col-100" /> </a> </div> <div class="col"> <div class="card-body text-hyphenate"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/adaptation-biology-and-physiology" class="font-weight-bold font-16 lh-sm">adaptation</a> <div class="font-serif mt-10 font-14"> Adaptation, in biology, the process by which a species becomes fitted to its environment; it is the result of natural selection鈥檚 acting upon heritable variation over several generations. Organisms are... </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="p-10 d-inline-flex js-pin col-100 col-sm-33 col-md-25 "> <div class="card text-normal col-100 "> <div class="card-media position-relative"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/human-genetics" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/12/91212-050-21A839CD/Karyotype-human-chromosomes-images-digital-light-microscope.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop" alt="chromosomes" class="col-100" /> </a> </div> <div class="col"> <div class="card-body text-hyphenate"> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/human-genetics" class="font-weight-bold font-16 lh-sm">human genetics</a> <div class="font-serif mt-10 font-14"> Human genetics, study of the inheritance of characteristics by children from parents. Inheritance in humans does not differ in any fundamental way from that in other organisms. 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