Expert: Walter Hintz - 10/16/2005

Question
Do you know any experiments of freckles?  I have a lot of freckles myself, so do you think there's any simple experiments I could do on myself for my science fair?  Thanks for your help.

Answer
Hi freckled Jennifer;  I bet you are a redhead?  Am I right?
  I have not seen any projects on the subject but freckles are heredity so why not do a project of genetics of freckles and how they are inherited?  I do not know what you already know about heredity but I will be glad to help you.  What you will have to do is some research on freckles and find out how they run in your family.  You can also include other people with freckles and make up some pedigree charts and a nice display.  You should make an outline like this:
 Problem: What cases freckles and how are they inherited.
 Make a hypothesis
 Do some study on pigments in skin and how freckles are caused.
 Ask freckled people about parents, siblings and grandarents and make pedigree charts.
  If you have any problems please let me know.