Genome-wide association study

Genomes are like a big book with lots of words in them. Scientists are trying to find which words are linked to certain traits or diseases, but it's a very long and complicated process. So, they collect a lot of books from many people, and make a big data set. Then, they look at all the words (called genes) in each book in the data set to find out which ones are different between people who have a certain trait or disease and those who don't. This is called a genome-wide association study, and it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack! But if they find a word that stands out, they can learn more about what it does and how it affects people. As they keep looking at more and more books, they learn more about how our genes work and how we can use that knowledge to help people stay healthy.