Did you ever wonder why your mom can roll her tongue, but you can't? It's all in the genes! Nancy Wexler knows a lot about genes. Nancy is a neuropsychologist: she studies the relationship between the nervous system and behavior.

Nancy specializes in Huntington's disease, a genetic disease that causes uncontrollable movements and does not have a cure. Every year Nancy and her team travel to Venezuela where most of the community—including entire families—have this genetic disease. Nancy's first step was to make a family tree of the entire community! In this activity you are going to build your own family tree and study some genetic traits that you have inherited from your relatives.

Print this page, the Family Gene Tree Data Sheet, and the Family Gene Tree Journal.

Here are three genetic traits you can research: tongue rolling, ear lobes, or dimples. Start simple and consider just one of these traits, then create a second and third tree for the other two traits too!

On scrap paper, make a list of all the people in your family that you are able to get information about. You can learn about the trait you chose by talking to people, looking at family pictures, or talking to people who knew a family member.

Once your list is complete, gather information about each family member.

1. Tongue rolling
   Check to see who in your family can roll his/her tongue and who can't. Write down your findings next to each name on your list. If you are using a camera, make the members prove that they can actually roll their tongue and take a picture!
2. Ears
   Check to see if family members have attached or unattached earlobes by looking in person or at family pictures. Write down your findings next to each name on your list. If you are using a camera, take a picture!
3. Dimples
   Check to see who has dimples and who doesn't by looking in person or at family pictures. Your cousin only has one dimple? That counts as having dimples! Write down your findings next to each name on your list. If you are using a camera, take a picture!

Use the information that you've gathered to fill in the Family Gene Tree Data Sheet.

If there aren't enough spaces on this tree, make your own tree on a bigger sheet of paper.

In your Family Gene Tree Journal, write down some of the things you learned about your family.

When a scientist has finished her fieldwork, she always writes up her notes and analyzes her data. Write your analysis here, starting with a few simple questions. If you took pictures, organize them in sequence and give each photo a title that relates to what you were looking for and what you observed.