Mitosis is the process where one cell divides into two identical cells, each with a complete copy of the original cell's genetic information. This is how your body grows, heals cuts, and replaces old cells with fresh ones.

Think of mitosis like a cell making a perfect photocopy of itself. Before dividing, the cell carefully duplicates all its DNA (the instruction manual for how to build and run a cell). Then it splits down the middle, giving each new cell an exact copy of those instructions. Your body performs this feat trillions of times as you grow from a baby into an adult.

Without mitosis, you couldn't heal a scraped knee. The skin cells around the injury use mitosis to multiply and close the wound. When you outgrow your shoes, that's mitosis at work in your bones and tissues. Every time you shed dead skin cells in the shower, mitosis has already created new cells to replace them.

Scientists can watch mitosis happen under microscopes. The cell's DNA, normally spread throughout the cell like loose threads, bundles up into X-shaped structures called chromosomes that line up neatly before being pulled apart into the two new cells. The whole process takes about an hour in many human cells.