Do Genes Matter? Families Under the Microscope
By Petra Nordqvist,
BioNews
| 06. 02. 2014
There is an increasing tendency to want to explain everything human, from stress, to being gay, or having a zest for life as something that is 'in our genes'. The explosion of biomedical research into genetics recently has had a major impact on popular ideas about what defines a person; 'genetic thinking' has become so hugely influential that human life now seems almost determined by a person's genetic make-up.
This 'geneticisation of society' (1) also filters through to assumptions about family life. There is a tendency to think that genetic relationships are the relationships that really matter in families, whereas non-genetic relationships are less well-recognised as important, and sometimes not even seen as 'real'.
Read more...
Related Articles
By Carly Mallenbaum and Alex Golden, Axios | 04.08.2026
Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations that can determine everything from whether agreements are legally binding to who is recognized as a parent at birth.
Why it matters: More Americans...
By Miguel Muñoz, Cadena SER | 08.04.2026
"Para ellos, una familia numerosa no solo es una preferencia personal, sino que es una obligación. Creen que tener tantos hijos como sea posible es necesario para evitar un futuro apocalíptico", aseguraba Xavier Orri, periodista y cofundador de Página Internacional...
By Sarah Elizabeth Richards, Scientific American | 04.02.2026
For the past two decades, fertility specialists have wrestled with a troubling question: Why do Black people have lower live birth rates after in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment than white people?
Researchers have proposed several explanations, such as the fact...
By Anna Collinson and Jo Adnitt, BBC | 04.02.2026
The government in northern Cyprus has said it is launching an investigation after several British families told the BBC they believed they were given the wrong sperm or egg donors during their IVF procedures at local fertility clinics.
The Ministry...