Radio Programs | Evolution & Human Diversity | DNA & Forensics

In the genetic scheme of things, how are humans different from chimpanzees and other animals? And how real are the differences within our own species – is a Swede genetically different from a Nigerian? Find out more in our section, Evolution and Human Diversity.

However similar or different we may be, your own DNA is unique - like a biological bar code. Scan our section on DNA & Forensics to find out how the local authorities can use your DNA to figure out if you're the culprit - or the father.

If you're interested in the resources here in Genes & Identity, you might also want to check out these categories: Ethics, Eugenics, and Regulation & Privacy.

Last updated: March 3, 2005

Radio Programs

• Genetics & Applied Ecology - DNA: Code of the Wild (first distributed in November 2001)
  
  
• DNA & Evolution - Where Did We Come From? Where Did We Go? (first distributed in November 1998)
  
  
• Law & the Genetics of Identity - The Science of DNA Fingerprinting (first distributed in November 1998)

On the Web

• Race Without Color. Discover
  
  In this brief but cogent 1994 essay, physiology professor and best selling author Jared Diamond (The Third Chimpanzee; Germs, Guns and Steel) explains that there are more genetic differences between individuals than there are among "racial" groups. (Paid-access article)
  
  
• Long Foreground. Washington State University
  
  You will find good introductions to the evolution of humans and other primates in this study module designed for an introductory course in World Civilizations
  
  
• "Genes generate a map: Study tracks human evolution, migration." San Francisco Chronicle, June 9, 2003
  
  This article discusses research approaches of molecular anthropologists using DNA markers to chart human evolution and migration. Discover why this work is controversial.
  
  
• Modern Human Origins Morass. Scientific American Exploration, January 2001
  
  Recent studies support a controversial theory of human evolution, the "Multiregional Hypothesis," and alternative to the widely accepted "Out of Africa" theory. The rival theories are both based on DNA evidence. This article has links to stories on various aspects of each theory.

The Human Genome Diversity Project

• Evaluating Human Genetic Diversity. National Research Council (NRC), 1997
  
  This report considers the issues posed by the proposed and controversial Human Genome Diversity Project, including: appropriate sampling techniques, human rights issues, and the keystone question of the value of undertaking a worldwide study of human genetic variability. Long delayed, the report has been subject to multiple interpretations.
  
  
• Frequently Asked Questions. Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP)
  
  The HGDP was proposed as a worldwide effort to document human genome variability. It reached far beyond scientific circles and stimulated passionate discussion of critical ethical, social, cultural and economic issues.
  
  
• Declaration of Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere Regarding the Human Diversity Project. 1998
  
  
• Genetic Markers Not a Valid Test of Native Identity. GeneWatch
  
  Jonathan Marks and Brett Lee Shelton argue it is inappropriate in either science or law to use DNA tests to prove tribal identification.

Magazine & Journal Articles

• Special Section: "Genetics, Biotechnology and Race." GeneWatch 14(5), September 2001
  
  GeneWatch is a publication of the Council for Responsible Genetics (CRG), Cambridge, Mass.

• Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution by Francis Fukuyama. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002
  
  Fukuyama, author of the influential book, The End of History, and member of the White House Council on Bioethics suggests that genetic manipulation will ultimately change what it means to be human.
  
  
• Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution by Steve Jones, David Pilbeam and Robert Martin. Cambridge University Press, 1995
  
  Color illustrations, charts and graphs, and a host of authoritative articles on every aspect of human evolutionary science, put the contribution of genetic sciences in perspective.
  
  
• Genes, Peoples and Languages by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, translated by Mark Seielstad. University of California Press, 2001 (paperback)
  
  An excellent overview of Cavalli-Sforza's many-faceted approach to human history, this book includes perspectives from his studies of genetics, linguistics, archeology and cultures. Cavalli-Sforza was the originator of the controversial Human Genome Diversity Project. This book is variously described as either dismantling or supporting popular theories of race, evolution and genetics.
  
  
• The History and Geography of Human Genes [abridged] by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi, Alberto Piazza. Princeton University Press, 1996
  
  Still a very technical book, this is a more accessible abridgement of the huge book of the same name, considered a virtual worldwide historical atlas of human population genetics. Based on the pioneering work of Cavalli-Sforza.
  
  
• Human Biodiversity: Genes, Race and History by Jonathan Marks. Aldine de Gruyter, publisher. 1995
  
  In this readable, provocative work, anthropologist/biologist Johnathan Marks presents the history of human thinking about race and diversity in the light of current genetic science.
  
  
• The Language of Genes: Solving the Mysteries of Our Genetic Past, Present and Future by Steve Jones. Anchor Books, 1995
  
  Jones, professor of genetics at the Galton Laboratory of University College, London, uses the engaging analogy of the parallels between the evolution of language and the evolution of genes to explore the questions posed and pondered by modern genetic sciences.
  
  
• The Search for Eve by Michael H. Brown. Harper Collins, New York, 1991
  
  What can our DNA tell us about our original human ancestors?
  
  
• The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared Diamond. HarperCollins, 1992
  
  What does it mean that we share 98% of our genes with chimpanzees? Dr. Diamond explains in this enjoyable, well documented read.
  
  
• The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould. W.W. Norton, 1995
  
  The revised and expanded version of this classic popular work which explains the mistakes in methodology, context and interpretation that scientists, both modern and historic, have made in studying human intelligence and developing theories of race and behavior. Required reading.

DNA & Forensics

• Limits of DNA Research Pushed to Identify the Dead of Sept. 11. The New York Times, April 22, 2002
  
  DNA forensics played a role in the aftermath of tragedy of September 11, 2001, as this article explains. Also see the sidebar "Targets of Terror: Identifying the Victims" (The New York Times, October 9, 2001); click on the "DNA Identification" tab. (Paid-access article)
  
  
• Bloody search for DNA to discover bin Laden's fate. The Observer, January 13, 2002
  
  The U.S. military uses DNA "fingerprinting" to identify the human remains of suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters killed in fighting.
  
  
• DNA match leads to death row. Associated Press, March 11, 2002
  
  The first execution in the United States, based on "cold hit" DNA evidence, took place in Virginia in 2002.
  
  
• DNA Backlog Reduction Program: Case Studies of Preventable Crimes, U.S. Department of Justice
  
  DNA evidence is piling up in an enormous backlog, and this site from the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Justice gives some examples of why that's a problem. Don't miss the link at the bottom of the page that takes you to the 472-page Attorney General's Report on the DNA Evidence Backlog.
  
  
• How DNA Technology is reshaping Judicial Process and Outcomes. The Council on the Future of Technology and Public Policy
  
  This issue brief from a CFTPP seminar gives background information on the state of Virginia's criminal database.
  
  
• Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment
  
  In 2000, Governor George Ryan of Illinois put a moratorium on the death penalty in his state, and created a commission to study patterns of conviction and the fairness of capital punishment in Illinois. The Commission's reports are available here, along with information about its makeup and process.
  
  
• About DNA Fingerprinting. Cold Spring Harbor Lab DNA Learning Center
  
  If you have the Shockwave plug-in for your browser, you can watch animated explanations of DNA fingerprinting here.
  
  
• The DNA Revolution. The Crime Library
  
  Everything an armchair detective needs to know about forensic DNA evidence.
  
  
• DNA in the Courtroom: A Trial Watcher's Guide. Genelex
  
  Genelex, a commercial DNA testing service created this useful site which includes access to a web-only edition, updated in 2000, of the popular book on forensic DNA evidence by Howard Coleman and Eric Swenson. The site includes an online guide to paternity testing with a handbook, a slide show, and a powerpoint presentation. Also see the summary of the legal status of DNA evidence in each of the fifty United States.
  
  
• Evaluation of Forensic DNA Evidence: Update on Evaluating DNA Evidence by the National Research Council National Academy Press, 1996
  
  The second report from the National Research Council committee on DNA Technology in Forensic Science clarifies issues of population genetics as they apply to DNA evidence, and addresses problems of lab error and of other criticism of their 1992 report, DNA Technology in Forensic Science. Read the full tests here. (Also available in print from National Academy Press).
  
  
• How DNA Evidence Works. How Stuff Works
  
  A good introduction to DNA evidence, this site covers scientific, practical, and legal aspects of evidence. Illustrations and samples give you the true picture of what analysts work with.
  
  
• Genetics in the Courtroom. The Judge's Journal, Summer 1997
  
  This special issue aims towards educating judges about DNA evidence. You can read the introduction and a couple of articles at this website, or purchase a copy from the publisher by calling (312) 988-6077.
  
  
• Fingerprints Questioned. FindLaw's Writ
  
  Old forensic technologies continue to be reviewed in the light of new DNA methods. In 2002 a judge ruled out fingerprint evidence, then changed his mind.
  
  
• Forensic Science. The Why Files. May 9, 1996
  
  Using the O.J. Simpson trial as a hook, the fun-loving staff at The Why Files describe different ways to analyze evidence from a crime scene.
  
  
• The Innocence Project
  
  This legal clinic run by students at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York handles cases in which postconviction DNA testing of evidence might prove innocence. The site contains profiles of people whose convictions have been overturned by DNA evidence, news reports about DNA and the criminal justice system, and as statistics and analysis concerning wrongful convictions.
  
  
• The Case for Innocence. PBS, 2000
  
  This rich website was created to accompany a 2000 Frontline PBS show on wrongful conviction and DNA exoneration.
  
  
• The Small Town Hunt for DNA
  
  In January 2005, all adult males in the small town of Truro, Massachusetts (Cape Cod) were asked to submit to DNA tests in order to help police solve a years-old murder mystery. In the United States, where law presumes innocence until guilt is proven, many have said "it can't happen here." Boston public radio station WBUR has the story.

• "RDNA Fingerprinting: Science, Law, and the Ultimate Identifier" by Eric Lander, in The Code of Codes, edited by Daniel Kevles and Leroy Hood, Harvard University Press, 1992

  A clear explanation of the science and technology of forensic DNA evidence by a prominent geneticist-mathematician.

• "Galton's Regret: Of Types and Individuals" by Paul Rabinow in Essays on the Anthropology of Reason. Princeton University Press, 1996

  Fingerprints, digital and genetic are considered by a cultural anthropologist in this contemplation of scientific forensic evidence and population genetics.

• And the Blood Cried Out: A Prosecutor's Spellbinding Account of the Power of DNA by Harlan Levy. Basic Books, 1996
  
  
• An Introduction to DNA Forensic Analysis by Keith Inman and Norah Rudin. CRC Press, 1997

  A good explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of various techniques of DNA analysis. Both scientific and legal aspects are examined.

• Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science by Richard Saferstein. Prentice Hall Press, 2000

  DNA typing explained and examined in the context of other scientific evidence. If you are interested in how DNA evidence is collected at the crime scene, and processed in the laboratory, this book will answer many of your questions.

• DNA on Trial: Genetic Identification and Criminal Justice Edited by Paul Billings. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1992
  
  
• Science at the Bar: Law, Science, and Technology in America by Sheila Jasanoff. Harvard University Press, 1997

  Professor Jasanoff, Chair of the Department of Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University, exposes the differences between legal and scientific definitions of truth and evidence, and the resulting clash of cultures staged at trials using DNA and other scientific evidence and testimony.

• Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make it Right by Jim Dwyer, Peter Neufeld, Barry Scheck. Mass Market Paperback, 2001
  
  This book was written by key players behind the Innocence Project, based at the Cordozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York, which has freed many prisoners by offering DNA evidence.
  
  
• Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification by Simon A. Cole. Harvard University Press, 2001
  
  
• Burn Factor by Kyle Mills. HarperCollins, 2001
  
  A fictional murder mystery in which an FBI agent, following DNA evidence, discovers what at first appears to be a glitch in the government database, and develops into what seems to be a government disinformation plot.