Data and privacy issues are tangled up in the DNA reports consumers get from big genetic testing companies – and the third-party sites they turn to in order to glean more from their raw DNA.
Sunset looking across Port Warrender to the Mitchell Plateau on the Kimberley coast. It is in Wunambal Gaambera country.
Mark Jones Films (with permission)
The first people to make it to Australia could have navigated their way by sea crossing, reaching the north-west coastline of the island continent more than 50,000 years ago.
It all begins with spitting in a tube like this one.
Scott Beale/Laughing Squid
More people are sending off saliva samples to find out about their genetic roots. But the raw DNA results go way beyond genealogical data – and could deliver unintended consequences.
Imagine using synthetic DNA as a sensor recording device.
Rost/Shutterstock
Our ability to reconstruct physical features from DNA is advancing, but can we ensure the privacy of “anonymised” genetic data if we can predict the face of its owner?
Cancer is the leading cause of death in the world.
Julio C. Valencia, NCI Center for Cancer Research
Synthetic biology allows us to engineer biological cells. This could help us tackle cancer in remarkable ways.
Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, who authorities suspect is the so-called Golden State Killer responsible for at least a dozen murders and 50 rapes in the 1970s and ‘80s, during his arraignment on April 27, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif.
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
A public genealogy data base was used to track down the so-called “Golden State Killer,” raising concerns about the privacy of using public sites to fill out our family trees.
Life over the microscope.
Jenifer Glyn/Wikimedia Commons
Scientists are just starting to understand how your parents’ genes and experiences might shape your own susceptibility to dangerous drugs. Could that help to stop addictions before they start?
In 2003 the Human Genome Project “cracked the code of life”, yet parts of our DNA remained unidentified. A new study fills out our genetic blueprint by using a nanotechnology-based technique.
Who gets to decide for the dead, such as this Egyptian mummy?
AP Photo/Ric Feld
Are DNA samples today’s version of the human skeletons that hung in 20th-century natural history museums? They can provide genetic revelations about our species’ history – but at an ethical price.
DNA testing has its risks, including that you don’t know who will own your genetic data.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Online genetic testing promises many things. Some are the stuff of fantasy, while others, even if scientifically feasible, still carry risks. Consider these five things before ordering a test.