From identity politics to medicine, the DNA revolution demands a new bioethics
From the discovery of the double helix structure in 1953, to the Human Genome Project of the 1990s and early 2000s, to the Precision Medicine Initiative announced by President Barack Obama in 2015, the DNA revolution has touched almost every corner of society. While a deeper understanding of genetics offers great potential for positive social change and targeted medical treatments, it also presents complex new ethical challenges that must be confronted with care and a thorough understanding of the history of racism in science. In this Aeon interview, Alondra Nelson, dean of social science and professor of sociology and gender studies at Columbia University in New York, argues that this unique moment requires a new bioethics that takes into account ‘the full social life of DNA’.

videoHistory
In the face of denial, this film uncovers the hidden scars of Indonesia’s 1998 riots
21 minutes

videoArt
Defying classification, fantastical artworks reframe the racism of Carl Linnaeus
8 minutes

videoBioethics
What a 1970 experiment reveals about the possibility and perils of ‘head transplants’
6 minutes

videoHuman rights and justice
When a burial for slave trade victims is unearthed, a small island faces a reckoning
29 minutes

videoGenetics
Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals
22 minutes

videoBioethics
Is it ethical to have a second child so that your first might live?
10 minutes

videoBiography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
13 minutes

videoBiography and memoir
A gentle soul in an oppressive land – Bonnie’s story of life in America
11 minutes

videoBiology
In 1886, a US agency set out to record new fruit varieties. The results are wondrous
5 minutes