Chromosomes

Chromosomes. We've all heard of them, but what's the origin of this funky word?

When the German chemical industry began inventing dyes, scientists could suddenly start staining things. They put dyes on cells, and they found that in the nucleus of a cell at certain times, dyes would stick to certain structures. These coloured things were really interesting, but they had no idea what they were.

What do you do in science when you have no idea what something is?

You give it a name, because if you give a name, you’re in control over it. The only thing they knew about these coloured bodies were that they were coloured bodies. So they called them chromosomes, meaning coloured things (from Greek, chroma = colour, and soma = body).

Go Science!!!