So, I saw this show where this guy deduced that a girl’s claimed parents were not her biological mom and dad because they had blue eyes but the girl had brown eyes.

Ah, yes, you saw an episode of Jonathan Creek. A really good show, despite some occasionally ludicrous twist endings. And Jonathan Creek made an induction, not a deduction, but anyway.

Is this true? Can blue-eyed parents have a brown-eyed child?

The genetics of eye colour are more complex than meets the, uh, eye. You see, very little in genetics is actually straightforward. Researchers are still trying to fully understand how eye colour gets transmitted from parents to children.

Still? But we’ve sequenced the whole human genome!

Yes, we have, which is a brilliant achievement of the human race and should be celebrated. It is a major stepping stone in our increasing understanding of life and in…