What Should You Ask Before You Give Up DNA? (At a State Fair or Elsewhere)

At the Minnesota State Fair, which runs through Labor Day, you can watch a butter sculptor carve the busts of a dairy association's princess and her court, eat french-fried mushrooms with a chaser of Hawaiian shaved ice and see "Weird Al" Yankovic in concert. Oh, and you can stop by the University of Minnesota's building and give samples of your and your children's DNA for the university's Gopher Kids Study.

As the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, researchers are collecting information, including the genetic kind, to see if the fair is an effective way to recruit and stay connected with study subjects. (Families are told to return for follow-up for the next two years.) Eventually researchers want to recruit thousands of kids in an attempt to study "what genes are involved in making a child grow and develop normally," according to the study's website.

It's not the only unconventional outlet for collecting DNA samples. Incoming Berkeley freshmen were invited to provide cheek swabs ahead of orientation. Originally the project was to include individual (confidential) data on gene variations associated with alcohol...