Question: why do we have genes

Rebecca Scott answered on 28 Jun 2013:

Genes are the bits of us that contain all the information that our cells need to know how to develop and be maintained. The genes also contain all the information that comes from our parents, so our eye colour, or hair colour, for example. Sometimes we get changes or mutations in the genes (these can be good or bad) but usually the good ones are the ones that are beneficial to us and get passed on to future generations and that is how living things evolve over time.