The United States has a very diverse heritage. There is no "American" race. Americans are the blending of many cultures throughout many generations. With this blending of cultures comes a blending of genes. In the past, genes have not been well understood. They were not understood until Mendel did experiments on plants to find out why different plants of the same species had different characteristics. His goal was to find the key to unlock the mystery of inheritance (Copeland and Hammer 12). After many years of collecting data, he unlocked the door. He discovered that the child gets one element from each parent for every trait. He also discovered that one of the