• He might be rooting for inherited traits while she believes in environmental characteristics.couple fight image by Allen Penton from Fotolia.com
  
  It is one of science's oldest and, at times, most debated question: which is more important in the formation of a human being, nature or nurture? To answer this scientists, doctors and other professionals have looked at the physical and mental manifestations to discern the difference between inherited traits and environmental characteristics. At times the line can appear blurred while in other situations the answer is more concrete; depending on how you view the information, you can attempt to decide for yourself what traits are inherited and which are the product of nurture alone.
  
  

Physical Attributes

• Without a doubt, the majority of our physical appearance comes from the collective gene pools of our parents. The color of our eyes, hair color, skin pigmentation and even nose size are the product of dominant genes exerting themselves. However, some people argue that other characteristics, in particular, weight, can be a product of environmental characteristics rather than solely genetics. Children who are raised in a household that exercises very little and eats a diet of high-calorie, fatty foods are more likely to be obese later in life (or during childhood) more so than any shared genes that could cause.
  
  

Behavior

• There are thousands of traits that can ultimately define a person: extroversion versus introversion, intelligent versus poor cognitive skills and juggling versus knife-throwing are just a few of the thousands that make each person unique. While scientific research has been done to determine whether there are genes that determine specific traits, like discovering the shyness gene, there have been many inconclusive findings in this area of research. It is therefore more likely that environmental characteristics--like family, friends, teachers and even the neighborhood in which you live--have more of an impact on which traits become dominant and which are more subdued.
  
  

Health Issues

• Many diseases are now traceable by a simple DNA test. In families where breast cancer is prevalent, there is now an option that allows females to take a genetic test to see whether they have inherited the breast cancer gene; however, this test does not state that the woman will develop breast cancer during her lifetime, but she could pass it on to her children. This genetic information can then be paired with environmental factors to improve an individual's health. If some are more susceptible to high blood pressure, they can take steps to counteract this debilitating health issue, such as losing weight and exercising regularly.