I'm a redhead. I don't know a lot about what causes that. Do you know anything about red hair?
I don't have red hair but I know that it is caused by a recessive allele on chromosome 16 which alters the MC1R protein.
Recessive. That means you have to get it from both parents, right? So are there any myths about red heads?
Recessive just means that it is a trait that will be overwhelmed by other characteristics most of the time. That's why only 1-2% of people have red hair.
Oh! I didn't know it was that rare! Where do the most red haired people live in the world?
Red hair is more frequent in northern and western Europe. The population there has red hair 2-6% of the time.
That makes sense. My family is from Denmark. Will my kids have red hair, do you think?
It is probably unlikely unless your wife carries the red hair gene as well because children inherit genes from both parents.