Degeneracy (biology)

Degeneracy in biology is a way of saying that one thing can be done in many different ways. For example, our genes are arranged in a certain way and each gene tells our bodies how to make certain proteins. Even though each gene is unique, sometimes multiple genes can do the same job, like one gene might be able to tell the body how to make two different proteins. This means that if one of those genes stops working, the body can still make the proteins using the other gene. That's called degeneracy—there are multiple ways to do the same thing.