Reaping the Whirlwind of Nazi Eugenics
By Kate Douglas,
New Scientist
| 07. 14. 2014
Untitled Document
Are some fields of scientific exploration so incendiary they should be fenced off and labelled "Keep out"?
I'm inclined to think not, both from a commitment to intellectual freedom and for the practical reason that if you put up such notices, trespassers are guaranteed. Still, if any area of research might warrant prohibition it is eugenics – the branch of human genetics used to justify repugnant Nazi ideology and, before that, the enforced sterilisation of "degenerates" around the world.
Yet eugenics was not cordoned off. A mere two decades after the second world war, it was reinvented as behaviour genetics. The story of what happened next is both gripping and salutary – and it is told with wonderful insight by sociologist Aaron Panofsky from the Institute of Society and Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

It is testament to human resilience and optimism that behaviour genetics was born into an atmosphere of academic excitement. Seen as an antidote to behaviourism – the idea that behaviour can be scientifically understood without recourse to anything beyond the observable...
Related Articles
By Keith Casebonne and Jodi Beckstine [with CGS' Katie Hasson], Disability Deep Dive | 07.24.2025
In this episode of Disability Deep Dive, hosts Keith and Jodi explore the complex interplay between disability science, technology, and ethics with guest Katie Hasson, Associate Director at the Center for Genetics and Society. The conversation delves into...
By Elizabeth Dwoskin and Yeganeh Torbati, The Washington Post | 07.16.2025
A group of well-heeled, 30-something women sat down to dinner last spring at a table set with pregnancy-friendly mocktails and orchids, ready to hear a talk about how to optimize their offspring.
Noor Siddiqui, the founder of an embryo-screening start-up...
By Noah Lanard, Mother Jones | 07.17.2025
Jordan Lasker, an X user who goes by the username Crémieux, recently made news by providing the New York Times with hacked data that showed New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani identified as both Asian and African American on...
By Jamie Marsella, Teen Vogue | 07.02.2025
In March, at a White House event celebrating Women’s History Month, President Trump dubbed himself the “fertilization president,” a moniker meant to emphasize his commitment to expanding access to in vitro fertilization, or IVF. “We’re gonna have tremendous...