* DNA: This molecule contains the instructions for building and maintaining an organism. It's organized into units called genes, each carrying specific information about traits like eye color, hair color, height, etc.
* Inheritance: During sexual reproduction, each parent contributes half of their DNA to their offspring. This means the offspring receives a combination of genes from both parents.
* Traits: The genes an offspring receives influence its physical and other characteristics, which are called traits.
* Variations: While offspring inherit genes from their parents, there is some variation due to the random combination of genes they receive. This is why siblings, although they share parents, often have slight differences.
Here's an analogy:
Imagine you have a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. This recipe represents your DNA. You share the recipe with your friend, and they also share their own recipe with you. You then combine both recipes to make cookies together. The resulting cookies will have characteristics from both original recipes (your DNA and your friend's DNA), but there might be slight variations depending on how you combined the ingredients (gene shuffling).
In conclusion:
The resemblance between offspring and parents is due to the passing down of genetic information, which dictates the development and expression of traits. While offspring inherit genes from both parents, the combination of these genes can lead to variations and differences among siblings.