The DNA Files

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Culture & Science

Science operates in a climate of culture, which in turn affects the questions asked and the interpretation of answers. Includes: gender and science, religion, adaptation, race, and the history of these areas.

Additional Resources

Books

Theologians, ethicists and legal experts contribute their perspectives on genetics and society.

Xenogenesis,
Octavia E. Butler
, New York, NY, p.264 p., (1987)

This science fiction series is a good read and raises fundamental
questions about the superiority of and dignity of the human genome and
respect for diversity. Titles include Adulthood Rites,
Dawn, and Xenogenesis. Ms. Butler is the
winner of the Hugo and the Nebula awards, and a MacArthur Foundation
award recipient.

Woman on the Edge of Time,
Marge Piercy
, New York, p.369 p., (1976)

Genetic modification of food and animals is one of the issues raised in Marge Piercy's novel about an inmate in a mental institution who travels forward in time to a Utopian society where everyone works, everyone eats, and men and women are so equal that men even get to nurse babies.

The Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, was the center of American eugenics research from 1910–1940. Here you'll find a wealth of material mostly from that site, including numerous reports, articles, charts and pedigrees that were considered scientific "facts" in their day, as well as essays by modern scholars.

The NIH-DOE Working Group on the Ethical, Legal and Social Issues of Genome Research — its full name is a mouthful, but ELSI is the premier source for information on the ethical, legal and social implications of genetic research.