'Biological reality': What genetics has taught us about race
Adam Rutherford
As US President Donald Trump
takes aim at the Smithsonian Institution for "anti-American
ideology", Adam Rutherford examines what the science of genetics has
taught us about race.
When scientists unveiled the first draft of the Human Genome Project 25 years
ago, it seemed to deliver the final word on some antiquated myths about race.
It provided definitive evidence that racial groupings have no biological basis.
In fact, there is more genetic variation within racial groups than between them. Race, it
showed, is a social construct.
But despite that fundamental finding, which has only
been reinforced as work on human genomes has continued, race and ethnicity are
still often deployed to categorise human populations as distinct biological
groups. These are views that can be found circulating in the pseudoscience on
social media, but they also still creep into scientific research and healthcare systems.
Comment & Analysis
Adam Rutherford is a lecturer in genetics at Univeristy
College London in the UK, BBC Presenter and author of How to Argue with a
Racist, which examines the history and science of notions of race. You can read
more from him about how to debunk racist myths with science and facts here.
It is even more troubling when this thinking finds its
way into the halls of government.
President Donald Trump and his administration have made no secret of his rejection of many aspects of the
scientific worldview. Since returning to the White House, he has made sweeping cuts to science funding for biomedical and climate research,
but in a recent Executive Order, Trump took aim at what most scientists now
regard as biological reality.
Continues here: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250417-biological-reality-what-genetics-has-taught-us-about-race
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