Welcome to Disney's Magic of Storytelling podcast, brought to you by Wake Med Children's, because inside every child is a story waiting to be told.
Our storyteller is ABC 11 news anchor John Clark.
Why?
Over 1,111 answers to everything by Crispin Boyer.
Introduction.
Why is the sky blue?
Why is your snot yellow?
Why do skunks smell like the worst thing ever?
Why do we ask why?
You have questions.
This book has answers, over a thousand of them, spread across hundreds of topics.
Some are serious.
Some are silly.
Some are strange.
And some answer questions you never thought to ask.
Many put to rest those nagging questions that pop into your noggin at the strangest times and keep you awake at night.
Reading Why will help your mind unwind.
This book has so many answers, in fact, that we've no time to waste.
The sky is blue because air molecules in our atmosphere filter blue light out of the color spectrum.
Snot gets its yellow and eventually green color from a chemical in your white blood cells which your body unleashes to fight infection.
Skunks reek because they have glands in their butts loaded with an icky must.
And why do we ask why?
Well, that question is a little complicated.
We'll get to it and many, many other mysteries soon enough.
Just keep in mind that discoveries are being made all the time and that theories are constantly evolving.
While this book packs in the most up-to-date answers now, things might be different ten years from now.
In the meantime, keep why handy for when you need instant answers, want to stump your parents or just want to sleep at night.
This chapter has a lot of heart, and guts, and brains, and maybe even a kidney or two.
And it's all... yours from aging to zits to bad breath to body odor brain function to ice cream headaches the pages that follow will get under your skin and shine a light between your ears prepare yourself things are about to get personal why do I look the way I look everything you see in the mirror from your height to your hair color to the dimple or lack thereof on your chin is written into nearly every cell of your DNA, spiraling chains of proteins found in every cell in your body.
Think of DNA as your body's instruction manual.
It tells your cells how to grow into organs hair teeth fingernails, your tongue and every single other part of your body.
Stretches of DNA, called genes, are like pages in that instruction manual.
Genes control what you will look like, plus less obvious traits such as whether you have perfect vision or the ability to curl your tongue.
Where did I get my genes?
While you admire your good looks in the mirror, don't forget to thank your parents.
Genes come in pairs, one from mom and the other from dad.
It's the combinations of genes that bring about or express various physical traits in a process called heredity.
Now, some genes are more influential on your appearance than others.
The genes for dark hair are dominant over the genes for red and blonde hair, making dark hair more common.
Do animals have DNA?
Yes, all of them do, actually.
And not just animals.
Every living thing on Earth, including single-celled bacteria, trees and plants, has DNA in its cells.
Now you might expect to share many genes with a chimpanzee or a bonobo, our closest living relatives.
But did you know you also share genes with that banana the chimp is chomping?
Why do some kids look less like their parents than other kids do?
You can't always guess a child's appearance just by looking at his or her parents.
The study of genes, called genetics, is achieving breakthroughs all the time.
But much about heredity remains mysterious.
Combinations of genes can affect other genes, leading to unpredictable characteristics or features that lurk in the genetic background for several generations.
Our genes are also riddled with so-called junk DNA that doesn't seem to express itself in any noticeable way.
Environment and diet also play a large role in shaping a person's weight, skin tone and other physical characteristics.
How similar am I genetically to a chimpanzee?
96 to 99%.
Humans and chimps split from a common ancestor between 13 and 6 million years ago.
A fruit fly.
60%.
Yeah, consider this the next time you swat that itty-bitty bug buzzing around your cantaloupe.
You and that fly are related.
So are you and that cantaloupe.
Fruit flies and humans share many basic genes, along with some genes that might make you more vulnerable to cancer.
In fact, scientists are studying fruit flies for clues to beating cancer.
My pet dog, 82%.
Dogs might be man's best friend, but read on for the shocking truth.
My pet cat, 90%.
Yeah, it turns out humans share more genes with felines than with Fido.
A banana.
50%.
No, this doesn't mean you are half banana.
All life forms on Earth share fundamental features and functions at the cellular level.
Sharing half our genes with a banana just shows that we evolved from a common ancestor more than a billion years ago.
Wake Med Children's is proud to support the ongoing enrichment of children in our community and beyond through our sponsorship of the Disney Magic of Storytelling podcast.
To learn more about Wake Med Children's, please visit kids.wakemed.org.
