Quite Gene-ial On The Subject

(I’m chatting with my nine-year-old sister. I’m 15.)

Sister: “Where do babies come from?”

(I’ve just been learning about mitosis and meiosis at school, so I think I can probably baffle her with fancy words.)

Me: “Well, there’s a process called meiosis, where the genetic material from the mummy and daddy merge together to make a zygote—”

Sister: “Yes, but how do the daddy genes and the mummy genes actually join?”

Me: “I’m just explaining that! It uses enzymes to get inside the bit where the mummy genes are protected—”

Sister: “Yes, but how do the daddy genes get to the mummy genes in the first place?!”

Me: “They swim to the mummy genes.”

Sister: “But how do the daddy genes get inside the mummy?”

Me: “I… don’t know.”

Sister: “Oh, well. I’ll ask mum.”

Me: “… You do that.”