3 min readWhat is a gene, in plain language?A gene is a short stretch of your DNA that acts as an instruction, usually a recipe for making one protein, the tiny machines that build and run your body; you inherit about 20,000 genes, one copy from each parent, and small differences between people explain much of human variation.
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4 min readDoes a DNA test tell me my future?No, a DNA test does not tell your future: for most common conditions it gives probabilities and risk nudges, not certainties, because traits like diabetes and heart disease arise from many genes interacting with diet, lifestyle and environment, so your results are tendencies you can often influence.
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3 min readCan my genes change during my life?Your underlying DNA sequence stays essentially the same for life, but how your genes are switched on or off can change through epigenetics, influenced by diet, stress, sleep, exercise and environment, so gene activity, not the genes themselves, shifts over time.
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4 min readHow accurate are at-home DNA tests?At-home DNA tests are usually accurate at reading the genetic letters they test (genotyping), but much less reliable at interpreting what results mean for health, and accuracy is lower for South Asians because reference databases are dominated by European data.
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