Ask a Geneticist Science

After reading the articles on the sites given, I learned many interesting facts about genetics. One of the articles compared humans and chimps (this can be read here). I learned that we are about 98% the same, and that we have different amounts of chromosomes (humans=46,chimps=92), but about the same number of genes. Another thing I learned is that chimps only have double the number of chromosomes we have because two of our chromosomes=1 chimp chromosome. So, you could say we have the same number of chromosomes, but in reality and according to this article we don't. This all supports that we have have the same number of genes, the sections of the two genomes that code for our genes only differ by about 1.2%. This proves we are about 98% the same. Even though humans and chimps have similar chromosome and gene numbers, the main reason that makes us different is that the amount of protein in our brains differ from the amount in the heart and liver. The differences of the amount of protein being made in our brains is what is considered the answer to what makes us different from each other. All of this information is very interesting to me, and I am sure you will be interested by these fascinating discoveries, too. Once again, you can read the full article by clicking here.