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Where Do We Come From?

The human genome tells quite a story … one that can be read as a historical text.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
The human genome tells quite a story … one that can be read as a historical text.

If you want to answer the most existential of existential questions, don’t look at the historical record, look in a microscope.

The study of DNA has become so advanced in recent years “that it was transformed into a historical source,” writes geneticist Adam Rutherford. This has upended our understanding of human history and evolution.

In his new book, “A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived,” Rutherford dispels myths about DNA (“there are people in your family from whom you have inherited no genes at all”) and clarifies concepts that were once beyond human understanding.

Rutherford joins us to talk about what we can learn from the 107 billion humans who have existed, and what this information can tell us about the next big question before us: where are we headed next?

GUESTS

Adam Rutherford, Geneticist; host, “Inside Science” on BBC Radio 4; author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

© 2017 WAMU 88.5 – American University Radio.

Copyright 2017 WAMU 88.5

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