Piece Description

The U.S. Census defines five races, and an "other" category. When the human genome was first fully mapped in 2000, Bill Clinton, Craig Venter, and Francis Collins took the stage and pronounced that "The concept of race has no genetic or scientific basis." Great words spoken with great intentions. But what does that mean and where does it leave us? It doesn't seem to have wiped out our evolving conversation about race.

Race Doesn't Exist. Or Does It? Tony Frudakis and his company DNA Print Genomics believe they can identify hair, eye, and skin color and point to the genetic ancestry of test subjects by scanning their DNA. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce goes to investigate, using a sample of Jad's DNA to find out what they could discover. The results? Surprising to all. We found another surprised DNA test subject, Wayne Joseph, a high school principal and writer on the topic of race.

Race and Medicine BiDil was the first drug approved by the FDA for a specific racial group. We want to know what the ramifications are for using skin color as a diagnostic tool for diseases and disorders that can't be seen. Producer Soren Wheeler talks to Dr. Jay Cohn, developer of BiDil and cardiac specialist. Sociologist Troy Duster and epidemiologist Richard Cooper discuss race, medicine, slippery slopes, and the dangers of false stereotypes. Journalist Malcolm Gladwell has thought about stereotypes. Growing up in Ontario to an English father and Jamaican mother, he became one of the top sprinters in his age-group and he noticed that a surprising number of the most successful runners in Canada were from Jamaica. It got him wondering about the relationship between race and athletic success, and he's pretty sure his initial ideas were wrong.

Can You See Race? Teacher David Sherrin presents an exercise called "Sorting People" to his 9th graders at the Facing History School. The outcome? Well, have a listen. How accurately can you guess a person's background from their appearance? Reporter Ali Abbas takes us to Baghdad, where that question has become an issue of life and death as tensions and violence have risen between Sunni and Shi'a in Iraq, and safety can come down to the spelling of your name.