Race and the Human Genome Project

In this episode we talk about the interaction of the Human Genome Project with the concept of race and try to explain why this rapidly switched from debunking the biological nature of race to reinforcing the biological nature of race.  As an example of how things went wrong, we talk about the “warrior gene” and super predators. Here are some links that go with this episode:

1. Human Genome Announcement at the White House (2000)
2. Rosenberg, Noah A., Jonathan K. Pritchard, James L. Weber, Howard M. Cann, Kenneth K. Kidd, Lev A. Zhivotovsky, and Marcus W. Feldman. “Genetic structure of human populations.” Science 298, no. 5602 (2002): 2381-2385.
3. Wade, Nicholas. “Gene study identifies 5 main human populations, linking them to geography.” New York Times, December 20, 2002, p. A37.​
4. Wade, Nicholas. “The palette of humankind.” New York Times, December 24, 2002, p. F3.
5. Robert, L. H. “People are same, but different; humans can be sorted into five groups based on ancestry, major genetic study finds.” Los Angeles Times, December 20, 2002, p. 3B.
6. Review of Nicholas Wade’s A Troublesome Inheritance in the New York Times.
7. A copy of the letter that appeared in the New York Times condemning Wade’s use of genomic work in A Troublesome Inheritance.  The fifth signer is Noah Rosenberg, lead author on the 2002 article.
8. Peterson, Erik L. The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017.