What is Race?
The Infinite Monkey Cage
BBC
4.7 • 9.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2016
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined on stage by comedian Shappi Khorsandi, science broadcaster Adam Rutherford and evolutionary geneticist Mark Thomas. They look at the thorny issue of race, and whether there is a scientific definition for the concept of race. Do our genes reveal racial differences, and if so do they tell us anything about our evolutionary history? They also look at the results of their own personal DNA tests...so which panellist is a little bit neanderthal and which one has a genetic history firmly rooted in the North!
Producer: Alexandra Feachem.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm Robin Ents. |
| 0:01.0 | And I'm Brian Cox. |
| 0:02.0 | And welcome to the podcast version of The Infilate Monkey Cage, which contains extra material |
| 0:06.4 | that wasn't considered good enough for the radio. |
| 0:08.7 | Enjoy it. |
| 0:09.7 | Hello, I'm Brian Cox. |
| 0:10.7 | And I'm Robin Ents. |
| 0:11.7 | And today we are talking about race. |
| 0:13.7 | So, Brian, what are you? |
| 0:15.6 | Well, I did one of those DNA sequence in website things. |
| 0:19.6 | And it came out that I am 66.7% British in Irish and 21.6% broadly northwestern European, |
| 0:27.3 | which basically means none of my genes have ever left old and I'm very dull. |
| 0:31.8 | And also, because you've been northern for that long, that means that 7% of you is dripping. |
| 0:36.3 | Is that racist? |
| 0:43.8 | We're going to find out. |
| 0:47.2 | I am actually genetically an Anglican Vicar. |
| 0:51.2 | Let's see. |
| 0:52.2 | I come from 300 years of Vicar stock, which means, and I'm sure Adam will back me up |
| 0:56.9 | on this, so I guess Adam Rutherford, I have the gene for riding a bicycle while waving gently. |
| 1:02.9 | The ability genetically to dunk a biscuit while appearing concerned over a recent bereavement. |
| 1:09.3 | And also the specific gene for being able to create an allegory from a mundane domestic |
| 1:15.0 | incident. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.