Does Our DNA Make Us All Unique or All the Same?

A better understanding of the genetic diversity among humans could motivate an appreciation of both our similarities and our differences.

Written byBob Grant

| 3 min read

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One of my favorite books to read to my children is titled “We’re Different, We’re the Same: And We’re Wonderful.” It features a cast of cartoon humans and Sesame Street characters, and on each pair of pages a different aspect of physical appearance is highlighted. For example: “We’re different. Our noses are different.” The accompanying illustrations show people and Muppets with proboscises of varying sizes, shapes, and colors. Turn the page, and the text reveals the characteristics that bind all of these diverse noses together: “We’re the same. Our noses are the same. They breathe and sniff and sneeze and whiff.”

Big Bird and Elmo are delivering a direct, timeless message: even though individuals look different, we are all, at a basic level, similar. The denizens of Sesame Street are of course trafficking in phenotypes, but the book’s moral assumes fresh meaning when viewed in the ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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