Why You Can't Tell Your Race From A DNA Test

Short Wave

NPR

Science, Life Sciences, News, Nature, Daily News, Astronomy

4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2023

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

Race is a social construct — so why are DNA test kits like the ones from 23andMe coded like they reveal biological fact about the user's racial makeup? This episode, Short Wave Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber talks to anthropologist Agustín Fuentes about the limits of at-home genetic tests and how misinformation about race and biology can come into play.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.2	In the year 2000, the Human Genome Project completed their first draft of the very first
0:11.4	sequenced human genome.
0:13.6	It was celebrated as a major breakthrough for humanity.
0:16.9	Without a doubt, this is the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind.
0:23.0	In a speech from the White House former President Bill Clinton touted the advancements this discovery
0:28.3	would bring.
0:29.3	This profound new knowledge humankind is on the verge of gaining immense new power to heal.
0:34.3	And in a lot of ways, genomic data has lived up to that hype.
0:38.4	By linking hereditary diseases to particular genes, kicking off the field of gene therapy
0:43.8	and putting personalized genetic data into the hands of individuals.
0:48.1	Yes, I'm talking about the modern DNA test kit.
0:52.0	Think 23andMe or ancestry.com.
0:54.8	I love these genetic tests and I hate them at the same time.
0:58.5	That's Augustine Fuentes, an anthropologist at Princeton University.
1:02.4	We met up at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science or Triple A.S.
1:07.8	Conference.
1:08.8	Hello, how's it going?
1:09.8	We're just going well.
1:10.8	And we talked about his love-hate relationship with these personalized genetic tests for
1:13.8	our live show series.
1:15.3	This ability to take your spit and put it into tube, paste them on 150 bucks and have
	...

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