DNA Privacy, Dog Cognition. May 4, 2018, Part 2

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science, Life Sciences, Wnyc, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.4 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2018

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

Genetic testing sites are nothing new. They’ve grown enough in popularity over the past decade that the idea of spitting into a tube and sending it in the mail to a website to find out more about your family tree—or even your risk of certain inherited diseases—doesn’t seem all that strange to most people. But the case of the Golden State Killer has brought to light many questions about the direct-to-consumer genetic testing market that still need answering. Dr. Amy McGuire, professor of biomedical ethics at Baylor College of Medicine discusses the risks we take when we share genetic information online. Plus, Natalie Ram, assistant professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law discusses how this new era of genetic research is butting up against the criminal justice system. Sit. Come. Stay. Your dog knows how to do it all, and she even seems to understand what you’re saying. But every dog owner has probably wondered what exactly is going inside the mind of their prized pooch. Does Spot really understand what you’re saying, or is he just trained by the treat bag? Does Fluffy have a concept of time? And how do our furry companions make sense of the world? Neuroscientist Gregory Berns has trained dogs to sit inside fMRI scans to see what happens inside their brains.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Science Friday. I'm Iroflato. A bit later in the hour, we're talking all about dogs. What can neuroscience tell us about how they think and feel about the world around them? You want to talk dogs? Our number is 844-724-8-255. But first, genetic testing sites, they're really nothing new. They've been growing in popularity over the past decade,
0:22.8	enough so that the idea of spitting into a tube and sending it in the mail to a website
0:27.6	to find out more about your family tree or even your risk of certain inherited diseases,
0:33.5	well, that doesn't seem all that strange to most people, does it?
0:37.4	But in the case of the Golden State Killer, that has't seem all that strange to most people, does it?
0:39.8	But in the case of the Golden State Killer,
0:43.8	that has brought to light many questions that still need answering about direct-to-consumer genetic testing and family search databases.
0:48.6	For example, who controls your data once you've shared it with a third-party site?
0:53.7	Should law enforcement be able to use
0:56.0	a consumer genetic database to aid in a criminal case? And when that data links you to a family tree,
1:04.6	how do you protect the privacy of those that haven't willingly shared it like you have?
1:10.4	That's what we're going to be talking about, our number 844-8255.
1:15.5	You can also tweet us at SciFry.
1:18.3	Let me introduce my guest.
1:19.9	Dr. Amy McGuire, Professor of Biomedical Ethics, Director of the Center for Medical
1:24.3	Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine. Welcome to Science
1:28.8	Friday. Thank you. Hi, Ira. Hi, Natalie Aram, assistant professor of law at the University
1:35.4	of Baltimore School of Law. Welcome to Science Friday. Hi, thanks for having me. You're welcome,
1:41.2	Natalie. Let me ask you first, can you take us briefly through the details of this case, the Golden State Killer case?
1:46.6	How did the police come to use consumer genetic database to catch that?
1:52.0	So the Golden State Killer committed at least a dozen murders and maybe more than 50 rapes during the 1970s, and so was quite a prolific
2:06.5	criminal. And police had collected a lot of genetic material left over at those crime scenes.
	...

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