Why Do People Look Different?
Season 3 Episode 3
Themes: Differences between People
Plot Highlights
- A pair of young girls, Coco and Lennon, call the StoryBots and ask them why people look different. One of the StoryBots, Bing, suggests that he knows where they could find the answer, and the group prepares for transport out of their computer home into the outside world.
- The StoryBots travel to a baby nursery, where they’re greeted by a nurse, Bernard, played by Reggie Watts. They ask Bernard why people look different, and he explains that the way people look is a mix of their mom and dad because of the DNA in all of our cells.
- Bo, the purple StoryBot, has wandered off from the group and is overwhelmed by the cuteness of the babies in the nursery, but when she squeals over them she wakes them up from their naps. The StoryBots leave the nursery to visit a cell and learn more about DNA, while Bernard tries to comfort the babies to get them to sleep once again.
- The StoryBots land in a cell, and they meet a woman who appears very busy and is talking about her schedule. She tells the group that the towers around them are made up of DNA.
- The group follows the woman into one of the towers and climbs up the rungs of a DNA ladder. The spiral ladder starts moving up in the tower as they climb, and they land on a floor where the busy woman is standing cranking the strand upward. She introduces herself as a busy polymerase, and she explains to them how the bases, A, C, T, and G making up the DNA ladder link together to make genes.
- The yellow StoryBot, Bing, squeezes himself into a strand of genetic material just before it’s ejected from the tower, taking the place of one of the bases. The Storybots chase after him, and they find the strand just before he’s about to get chomped by a ribosome. Though they’re unable to pull Bing out at first, their yelling makes the ribosome stop working so they can free him. The ribosome explains that he’s reading the order of bases in the gene so he knows which protein to make.
- The ribosome finishes reading the gene, and a protein pops out of the top of it. The protein explains to the StoryBots how proteins make up everything in our bodies, and how differences in genes lead to different proteins that are responsible for our physical differences, like eye color or hair color.
- The StoryBots return to their boss and explain the answer they found for why people look different. The episode closes with a final song about DNA causing everybody to be a little bit different, with the message that “the world’s a more fun kind of place with more than one kind of face.”
Discussion Questions
After this episode, you can talk to your child about recognizing and appreciating differences between people, in addition to asking them what they learned about DNA and genes. Consider some of the following questions and resources to explore together.
- What are some of the differences between people that they talked about in this episode? What causes those differences?
- Think of one of your friends or family members. What differences are there between you and them? What’s similar about both of you? What do you think is good about having differences with friends and family members?
If your child is excited to learn more about DNA and genes, check out this Youtube video about DNA, or this list of genetics activities for kids.
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