Are they Related? Heritability.

Heritability. It's that thing that we get from our parents, right? When most people think of heritability, they think of it as being something that is passed to us from our parents. However, heritability, in simplest terms, is the percentage or extent to which genetic differences contribute to individual differences. For example, take a mom and a little girl. They look a lot alike. The mom has red hair and hazel eyes and so does the little girl. Would you believe me if I said that they weren't related? Probably not because it is evident that this little girl's red hair and hazel eyes were traits that were inherited and displayed from her mother. Now, take a mom with straight blonde hair and brown eyes and a girl with curly red hair and brown eyes. Would you believe me now if I said they were related? You would probably have a harder time with this one. However, it is very much possible that they are related and the little girl just had a weaker heritability of the blonde hair.
The whole heritability thing is something that is very evident in my family and greatly seen through our phenotypic makeup. In fact, people call my brother and I mini images of our parents. It is important to understand the concept of heritability and it is very interesting to be able to relate it to everyday life.