Updates — MyGeneLog™

Two copies of one line of text differing by a single letter — the cover for a free classroom lesson on genes and rsIDs.

Lesson: genes and rsIDs, and what a catalogue actually measures

A ready-to-run genetics lesson for age 16 and up, free to use in any school, college or university. One book everybody owns a copy of: a chapter is a gene, and an rsID names a letter that differs between copies. Then students count those letters in a real catalogue and find the counts measure research attention rather than biology.

Updated Sep 9, 2026 7 68

How to read a pedigree, and where the textbook rule breaks — a free genetics lesson

Lesson: how to read a pedigree, and where the textbook rule breaks

A free genetics lesson on pedigree analysis. Three clean family trees teach the three inheritance patterns; the fourth is real, and the rule the class just learned gives the wrong answer on it.

Updated Sep 8, 2026 7 73

A dark card reading "one broken copy of two. you keep six per cent." — the cover for a free classroom chemistry lesson on multi-subunit enzymes and dominance.

Lesson: why one broken gene copy costs 94% of an enzyme

A free chemistry lesson with one coin per student. Ask a class what one broken copy of a gene out of two costs you and they will say half. For this enzyme the answer is 94%, the class can compute it in twelve minutes, and the reason is the shape of the protein rather than anything in the DNA.

Updated Sep 8, 2026 8 61

A dark card reading "your calculation will be wrong. that is the lesson." — the cover for a free classroom genetics lesson on lactase persistence.

Lesson: lactose tolerance and natural selection

A free genetics lesson on natural selection, with no equipment needed. The class computes a prediction from real allele frequencies, gets a clean answer, and then finds out it is wrong — because the same solution evolved four separate times in the last few thousand years.

Updated Sep 7, 2026 6 67

A strip of paper on a dark background with the words "some of you will taste nothing" — the cover for a free classroom genetics lesson.

Lesson: the PTC taste test, and why the textbook version is wrong

A ready-to-run genetics lesson built on the PTC taste test — free to use in any school, college or university. Forty minutes, one paper strip, and the textbook version of the trait turns out to be wrong in a way that is more interesting than the original.

Updated Sep 7, 2026 7 92

A radioactive spider would not have done that — the real genetics behind strength, pain and climbing

The Real Genetics Behind Spider-Man

Spider-Man is back in cinemas, so here is the honest version: what each of those abilities would actually require, and what the published research says about the three that turn out to be real — in people, right now.

Updated Sep 7, 2026 10 70

One gene decides a vegetable, a sinus infection, and whether a child finishes their antibiotics — TAS2R38, rs713598

One Gene, Three Answers: What TAS2R38 Decides

The same three coding changes decide whether broccoli tastes bitter, play into how your sinuses fight bacteria, and change whether a child swallows their medicine. One position, three kinds of consequence.

Sep 5, 2026 8 79

Genetics Conferences Worth Knowing About

Where the research behind MyGeneLog actually gets presented — the major annual human genetics conferences, and what each one covers.

Sep 5, 2026 10 75

What Is a SNP? A Plain-Language Guide

SNP, genotype, allele, rsID — the four words every MyGeneLog result uses, explained without the jargon.

Sep 5, 2026 5 77

APOE and Alzheimer's Risk: What the Research Actually Says

APOE e4 is one of the most consequential results a genome file can surface. Here is what it does and does not tell you.

Sep 5, 2026 7 63

MTHFR Explained: What rs1801133 Actually Means

MTHFR shows up in a lot of alarming corners of the internet. Here is what the actual research says.

Sep 5, 2026 12 68