How come two brothers/sisters don't both look exactly the same?

Question

If they're from the same parants and are the same gender?

Answer 1

Identical twins do look the same. Cloning also creates the same problems. Variety is the spice of life !

Answer 2

Parents pass on different sets of genes to each child.  Even if one doesn't look like another, they will have recessive genes which shows up in their brother or sister.

For instance, my older sister looked more like by mother's youngest sister than she did either of my parents.  You see the genes that were dominant in my mother's younger sister were recessive in my mother.

I was born with red hair, blue eyes, and a skin cancer type complexion. I topped off at 5'6-1/4"(I have shrunk in my old age). My father was also blue eyed and had to have lots of skin cancers removed.  Both of my sisters were short, one being 5'3" and the other 5'2".   Both tan very well.  They were both born with black hair and became tow headed before they were one year old.  One had hazel eyes and the other brown.  

My younger sister and I share facial shapes and have my paternal grandmother's nose.

Daddy was Irish, orange and green.  Four of his brothers had dark hair and brown eyes like his mother.  He had the blue eyes like his red haired father.

Mother was really a hybrid.  Her mother was fair with blue eyes and red hair.  Her father was mostly Polish Jew and Native American.    She had dark hair and eyes.

Answer 3

im not going to write you some lng answer because its as simple as this one inherits more from tha mama and one inherits more from tha dada simple n e-z

Answer 4

Identical twins look often the same (except certain other factors obviously make a difference, since twins even when they're identical, can be much different in certain ways).

Siblings usually only have 50% the same DNA as each other, approximately.  So they look similar.  But not the same.  You only get half of your parents' DNA-- the sibling won't get the same half, without a big coincidence.

Answer 5

Really? How about all those genes? Even IDENTICAL TWINS are NOT identical in their genes. Genes affect the way people look.  Also, usually overlooked on this site, is radiation. Natural or (background radiation) affects every one's genes (which is how there are mutations causing differences in hair/eye/skin color and everything else!) Which means that, even IF two folks looked exactly the same, after a period of time they would look different. (Appearance is also affected by environment...sun, wind, rain, snow, work or lack of it [physical labor as opposed to a desk job]).

The gene pool is a ramdom event; recessive genes show up in some, but not others. One of my brothers has NATURALLY red, curly hair, whilest the rest of us have straight, black hair and my sister is a brunette...

Answer 6

Because you get different genes from different parents. Child#1 may get her mother's nose and her father's eyes, child #2 the reverse. If mom has a beak like an eagle and soft blue eyes, while dad is half Chinese with a tiny nose and brown eyes, child#1 is going to spend her life asking the waiter to bring her a bigger wine glass.

There are lots and lots of genes; ear shape, nose size, skin tone, eye color, . . . Some are dominant/recessive, some aren't. Skin color isn't, for instance. Children of a black parent and a white parent usually come out colored like cafe au lait, not white, black or spotted like a pinto horse. Asian/White children look like a blend too.

When (if) you take high school biology, there should be a section on DNA and inherited characteristics.

http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/...

looks like it has a video clip from the U of Arizona on the subject.

I have forgotten which one is Mitosis and which is Meiosis; one is when a simple cell divides, like algae, and you get two new ones that are identical. The other is what we verterbrates do - combine DNA from two cells to make a new one.

Answer 7

Because they can inherit different mixes of the genes. So say we're talking about gene #1. Brother #1 inherits that gene from Mom. Brother #2 inherits that same gene from Dad. Brothers will look different because of that gene difference. There are something like 38 different genes I believe (or something close to that) and they can be mixed up different in each sibling.