# Explain DNA to a Stupid Person, Please? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-dna-to-a-stupid-person-please/256386 "2004-07-22T18:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-dna-to-a-stupid-person-please/256386/21 "2004-07-23T04:29:37Z")
Ok. ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-dna-to-a-stupid-person-please/256386/22 "2004-07-23T05:32:00Z")
whoa. I zoned out after the first reply. :eek: \<~~me zoned out 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-dna-to-a-stupid-person-please/256386/23 "2004-07-23T12:12:22Z")
> [@Dog80](#): > > A small hijack: I 've read in a book that there is too much information about a human body(eg, hair color, height, skin color, eye color etc.) and the DNA is too small to have all that info coded into its structure. Is that true? If it is true, then where does the “extra” information come from? The other aspect of this is that it isn’t necessarily true that “one gene produces one characteristic” (If so we would be made of only ~30,000 characteristics). What complicates the picture (and complicates us) is that several genes can work in concert with each other to produce a myriad of effects. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-dna-to-a-stupid-person-please/256386.md?page=1)