Dr Adam Rutherford talking about the dark history and troubling present of eugenics, on the Mind and Body Stage, at New Scientist Live 2022
Throughout history, people have sought to improve society by reducing suffering, eliminating disease or enhancing desirable qualities in their children. But this wish goes hand-in-hand with the desire to impose control over who can marry, who can procreate and who is permitted to live. In this talk, Adam Rutherford will tell the story of attempts by the powerful throughout history to dictate reproduction and regulate the interface of breeding and society. The pseudoscience of eugenics enjoyed huge popular support for 60 years, but its specter is raised again with the advent of gene editing to change the DNA of unborn children. Adam David Rutherford (born 1975) is a British geneticist, author, and broadcaster. He was an audio-visual content editor for the journal Nature for a decade, and is a frequent contributor to the newspaper The Guardian. He hosts the BBC Radio 4 programmes Inside Science and (with Hannah Fry) The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry; has produced several science documentaries; and has published books related to genetics and the origin of life. He is an honorary senior research associate in the division of biosciences at University College London. Rutherford became President of Humanists UK in June 2022 succeeding former President, Professor Alice Roberts.
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Location: ExCeL London, One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, London, E16 1XL
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
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