People are getting taller
- Thread starter JarodRussell
- Start date
Close. It's because we're no longer hunched over in those Pangean tunnels trafficked by dinosaurs. Or something.
The best way to think of it is that genetics determines your potential height, while nutrition and other environmental factors determine your actual height.
Basketball players
So are you saying by that reasaoning, siblings should be roughly same height as they often would have the same enviromental factors and roughly the same nutrition growing up.
Sure some people growing up might grow up in several places due to moving, but others might not move until after they stop growing. I have several brothers all but one are taller, with that one being roughly the same height as myself.
Not necessarily. You get genes from both of your parents, and the combination of those genes is completely random. Both parents might be tall, but they might be carrying some recessive "short genes" that they pass on to their kids.
Due to the randomness of Mendellian inheritance, you can end up with siblings that look almost identical or siblings that look nothing alike.
Yup, that's right. There is often height variance among siblings just because they didn't inherit the same combination of genes.
Now, if we had a set of identical twins and they ate the same things and engaged in more or less the same activities while growing up, they should end up being just about identical in height, but there can still be exceptions, like if one of them gets very sick at a young age--that can have effects on their growth, too.
While I'm 6'6" tall, my brother is just 6 feet. Six inches is actually pretty noticeable, especially when we stand next to each other. We are three years apart, pretty much ate the same things and did all the same activities.
Same here. I'm 5'2", and my biological brother is about 6 feet. Our mother was 5 feet tall and our father was 6 feet, so us kids' heights was a crapshoot, and I lost. 
Further on what RoJoHen said about resemblance between siblings, my two oldest children are just over a year apart in age but look nothing, and I mean nothing, alike. When I'd walk through town with them in the double pushchair I was sometimes asked if I was a childminder because they looked so different. My daughter's a spitting image of my mother but my older son doesn't look like any particular relative, though his looks certainly come from my husband's side of the family. Our younger son looks more like his sister; he mostly takes after my brother.
Further on what RoJoHen said about resemblance between siblings, my two oldest children are just over a year apart in age but look nothing, and I mean nothing, alike. When I'd walk through town with them in the double pushchair I was sometimes asked if I was a childminder because they looked so different. My daughter's a spitting image of my mother but my older son doesn't look like any particular relative, though his looks certainly come from my husband's side of the family. Our younger son looks more like his sister; he mostly takes after my brother.
Sometimes there is a resemblance even siblings don't see. My brother is tall (over six feet) and thin with curly blond hair. I'm 5'11", 190 lbs with straight brown hair. None of our facial features "match". Yet we both went for a hair cut once and the stylist guessed we were brothers.
If you look at my husband and his younger brother head-on it's easy to tell them apart, but the similarities in their side profiles is astounding.
I think people automatically try to pick out similar features between relatives where a genetic link is the norm. When my niece was young she was sometimes mistaken for my daughter even when her mother, my sister-in-law, was there as well. However my brother, the girl's father, is adopted, so as I share no genetics with my niece any family resemblance was wished upon us. Our parents (I'm their biological child) were Dutch and my two adopted brothers are Greek, so we aren't even from the same geographical region.
I think people automatically try to pick out similar features between relatives where a genetic link is the norm. When my niece was young she was sometimes mistaken for my daughter even when her mother, my sister-in-law, was there as well. However my brother, the girl's father, is adopted, so as I share no genetics with my niece any family resemblance was wished upon us. Our parents (I'm their biological child) were Dutch and my two adopted brothers are Greek, so we aren't even from the same geographical region.
Same. I'm around 5'5" to 5'6", didn't really get that tall. Some of my family is a little taller some not so much. Just the way the genetic ball bounced.
There is this link for average heights around the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height#Average_height_around_the_world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height#Average_height_around_the_world
As I suspected I'm a good 12cm shorter than the average Dutch woman. Some years ago a BBC television news report stated that the Dutch were officially the tallest European ethnic group. I looked down, muttered "No, the ground's still very close", and turn off the telly. Curse my short little ancestors!
Same here. I'm 5'2", and my biological brother is about 6 feet. Our mother was 5 feet tall and our father was 6 feet, so us kids' heights was a crapshoot, and I lost.
Further on what RoJoHen said about resemblance between siblings, my two oldest children are just over a year apart in age but look nothing, and I mean nothing, alike. When I'd walk through town with them in the double pushchair I was sometimes asked if I was a childminder because they looked so different. My daughter's a spitting image of my mother but my older son doesn't look like any particular relative, though his looks certainly come from my husband's side of the family. Our younger son looks more like his sister; he mostly takes after my brother.
My brother is taller and thinner than me, and I think that's more of the maternal genetics. I more strongly resemble my dad than he does, but I do have a reddish tint in my blonde hair from my mom's side. It's always interesting to see who inherits which traits (for better or worse
).
