Whose Genes? What Genes Can (and Can’t) Explain About Life

What exactly is a gene? What can genes really tell the world about the evolution of life and human beings? These are some of the questions behind Whose Genes?–a project funded by the Harvard President’s Building Bridges Fund. Drawing on interviews with Harvard faculty and questions gathered from the broader community, the project explores both shared ground and points of debate in contemporary genetics, bringing together diverse perspectives on one of biology’s most enduring and contested questions: How do genes shape organisms, identities, and evolution?

This is a free, public conversation around this question. Audience members are invited to complete this short anonymous survey in advance and to bring their own questions about evolution, inheritance, and the limits of genetic explanations.

Presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History, one of the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture, with support from the Harvard President’s Building Bridges Fund, and the Herman and Joan Suit Lecture Fund.