This course examines one of the most enduring and influential forms of identity and experience in the Americas and Europe, and in particular the ways race and racism have been created, justified, or contested in scientific practice and discourse. Drawing on classical and contemporary readings from Du Bois to Gould to Gilroy, we ask whether the logic of race might be changing in the world of genomics and informatics, and with that changed logic, how we can respond today to new configurations of race, science, technology, and inequality. Considered are the rise of evolutionary racism; debates about eugenics in the early twentieth century; Nazi notions of “racial hygiene”; nation-building projects and race in Latin America; and the movement in modern biology from race to populations to genes and genomes.

This video segment from Kentucky Life describes how scientists control pollination of one of the few remaining American chestnut trees to develop blight resistant trees.

This subject examines the role scientists have played as activists in social movements in the U.S. following World War II. Themes include scientific responsibility and social justice, the roles of gender, race, and power, the motivation of individual scientists, strategies for organizing, and scientists’ impact within social movements. Case studies include atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and the nuclear freeze campaign, climate science and environmental justice, the civil rights movement, Vietnam War protests, the March 4 movement at MIT, concerns about genetic engineering, gender equality, intersectional feminism, and student activism at MIT.
Read a profile of the class “Scientists as Engaged Citizens” by the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

Genetic Engineering interactive learning website that includes:
Journey of a Gene - Learn the steps of genetic engineering to help us make soybeans that are resistant to Soybean Sudden Death Syndrome.
Enviropig - Learn the steps of genetic engineering to help us make environmentally friendly pigs.
Genetic Engineering: Oomycete - Learn the steps of genetic engineering used in the process of developing oomycete resistant soybean.
Farmers, Consumers, and GMOs - The world in which we live is constantly changing. Farmers and consumers need to adapt in order to deal with those changes. The use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is one way to help them with adapting. The purpose of this learning environment is to provide the knowledge necessary to assist farmers and consumers to navigate through our changing world.

This video segment from FRONTLINE/NOVA: "Harvest of Fear" explores genetic modification of salmon and possible consequences.

Marilyn Havlik leads students through a simulation of the Hardy-Weinberg Principle to develop their understanding of population genetics.

This animation produced by WGBH and Digizyme, Inc. demonstrates the experimental technique used to introduce DNA plasmids inside bacterial cells, a process called bacterial transformation.

This video adapted from the University of Leicester demonstrates the proper use of different-sized micropipettes to measure precise volumes of liquid in the lab.