Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh.

The study of genetics, how people pass certain traits from generation to generation,

ramped up in a big way with the publication of Charles Darwin's on the origin of species in 1859.

Now, this, of course, led to some great advancements, but also some darker ones, most notably eugenics.

Eugenics is a political ideology that emerges in the 19th century that uses these new ideas of genetics to promote the idea that if animals can be bred and foods can be bred, we can

shape nature to our will. If those things are true, which they are, then why can't we do

the same for humans? That's Adam Brotherford, geneticist and author of the book,

Control the Dark History and Trou troubling present of eugenics.

The folks over at NPR's Daily Science Podcast, Shortwave, spoke to him recently,

and we'd love to share that conversation with you today.

He and Shortwaves Rebecca Ramirez talk about how the history of eugenics can be felt all around us today.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

This urge to formalize and systematize the selective breeding of people emerges from a specific political climate.

There's a very tumultuous socio-political atmosphere.

There's industrial revolutions.

There's huge urbanization of cities as they expand.

And there's lots of immigration from the expanding empires.

This is a time when Britain is at its sort of imperial peak.

...