What is the passing of traits from parents to offspring called?
mutation
variability
cell division
heredity
As scientists learned more about heredity - the passing of traits from parents to offspring - over the next few decades, they were able to describe Mendel’s ideas about inheritance in terms of genes. In this way, the field of genetics was born. At the link that follows, you can watch an animation of Mendel explaining his laws of inheritance in genetic terms. http://www. dnalc. org/view/16182-Animation-4-Some-genes-are-dominant-. html.