From Supertasters to Spotted Coats: An Introduction to Genetics

It starts with a simple question: why do living things look the way they do?
You’ll build your genetics foundation from the ground up — DNA, chromosomes, genes, and alleles — and learn how traits get passed from one generation to the next. Along the way, you’ll get hands-on with Punnett squares, working through monohybrid and dihybrid crosses until the logic clicks.

Then you’ll try it for yourself. One of the most memorable parts of this course is a hands-on experiment: are you — or the people in your life — supertasters? You’ll design and run your own investigation to find out, applying genetics concepts to something you can taste and feel, not just read about.

From there, the science gets a face — actually, a snout. You’ll explore how genetics plays out in dogs, using real pedigrees to trace fur color, nose color, and recessive traits across actual family lines. You’ll dig deep into the genetics of coat color, markings, and type — the specific genes and vocabulary (like loci, eumelanin, and pheomelanin) that determine how a dog actually looks — along with the genetics behind nose and skin pigmentation. You’ll also explore a docuseries examining how far genetic science has come — and where it might be headed — forming your own opinions along the way.