Mr. Furlan Sci.

Student: I would like to know more about mitosis and meiosis

Mitosis and Meiosis can be confusing for two reasons. They both have something to do with making copies, and they both sound very much alike.

Mitosis: 

Is when a cell makes an exact copy of itself. Think of this as a copier where you scan a paper and another copy comes out. What you get is called the daughter cell.

Now this daughter cell is a clone of the original. This is how you replenish the cells in your own body! Another term to remember with mitosis is asexual reproduction.

Meiosis:

Is when a cell is copied with half its information. Why would anyone want half a copy of something? This has to do with sexual reproduction. 1/2 of the information comes from the "mom" while the other half comes from the "dad". These Cells are known as the egg and sperm cells or "gametes". These cells are just like containers with half of the ingredients for a full cell. Once they come together mitosis starts to happen.

So why is meiosis even here? Is it 100% needed? Actually the answer is no. However, meiosis creates diversity within a species. It allows for mixing of genetic code or directions. If there was only Mitosis we would all look like clones of each other. There are of course a bunch of other reasons for meiosis too, but that's the basics.