Donald Cline justified his deception with choice bible verses, so that makes everything okay.
DNA
Posted inEditor's Pick
How a DNA Testing Kit Revealed a Family Secret Hidden for 54 Years
A personal essay by memoirist Dani Shapiro about discovering, accidentally through DNA testing, that the father she knew was not her biological parent. In the piece she advocates for the rights of children produced through assisted reproduction, after decades in which those of parents and donor prevailed, and children were kept in the dark about […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Bastard: Neither of My Parents Was Exactly Who I Thought They Were
In this personal essay, author Elizabeth Wurtzel shares the bombshell that was recently dropped on her — that her father was not Donald Wurtzel, but rather civil rights era photojournalist Bob Adelman — and tries to make sense of her mother’s choice to keep the secret of her affair (and her daughter’s true paternity) for […]
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
The Neanderthal
Jen Gilman Porat seeks a genetic excuse for her husband’s barbaric table manners.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
My Dog is 10.3% Supermutt
Because she wants to know everything about him, Kelly Conaboy DNA-tests her rescue dog, Peter Parker.
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Are You?
A personal essay in which Valerie Vande Panne writes about learning why she never quite passed as white growing up, despite allegedly being the product of two caucasian parents. She recalls being questioned all her life about her racial and cultural identity; finally learning through a DNA test that her father wasn’t who she thought […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Every Parent Wants to Protect Their Child. I Never Got the Chance.
In a heartbreaking reported essay, Jen Gann writes about raising a son who suffers from incurable cystic fibrosis that will likely lead to his early death, the midwife practice that neglected to warn her that she and her husband were carriers, and the likelihood that she and her husband would have chosen to terminate the […]
Posted inBlog Post, Science & Nature
What Makes a Disability Undesirable?
Should we try to correct disabilities to help the disabled, or make their existence easier for the abled?
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
Evolution and Chill: Survival Is No Longer Just About Competition
Scientists are taking a second look at the effect of cooperation on evolution.
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes, Science & Nature
‘When Neanderthals Disappeared From Here, We Became the Sole Inheritors of Our Continent’
In Gibraltar, science writer Gaia Vince discovers that analyzing the genetics of ancient humans means changing ideas about our evolution.