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Geneticist Bryan Sykes discusses examining America, one of the most genetically diverse countries in the world, through its DNA, and what it says about how we perceive race. His book DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America takes readers on a historical genetic tour, interviewing genealogists, geneticists, anthropologists, and everyday Americans about their ancestral stories.

The United States has just over 300 million people. If you break that down to a biological level, that equals about 13.8 billion human chromosomes, and at least 90 trillion human genes. So what do all these genes say about the country? What do they say about us? In his new book "DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America," Bryan Sykes tackles this issue head-on.

This week's Studio 360, "Making Better People," takes a look at man's preoccupation with improving man. Featuring interviews with Greg Stock, author of Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future, and others, the program considers how we might better nature through engineering. Meanwhile, in the Archives we found a WNYC program exploring the same topic ...almost exactly sixty-two years earlier.

Science writer Lone Frank talks about using her own DNA to examine the new science of consumer-led genomics. In My Beautiful Genome she looks at how this science is used, how important it is for our health, and the consequences of biological fortune-telling.

Time science writer, Jeffrey Kluger looks at the bonds between siblings. In The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal about Us, Kluger explores the complex world of siblings in a way that is equal parts science, psychology, sociology, and memoir. Based on new and emerging research, it looks at birth order, twin studies, genetic encoding of behavioral traits, emotional disorders and their effects on-and effects from-sibling relationships.

We're celebrating summer with a classic episode of Radiolab--full of mystery, intrigue...and a goat standing on a cow. We haven't actually tried listening to it around a campfire, but we're betting it would totally work. See you in two weeks with a new short!

Richard Francis discusses the new scientific field of epigenetics, the study of how stress in the environment can impact an individual's physiology so deeply that those biological scars actually can be inherited by the next generations. In Epigenetics: The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance he explains why researchers believe that epigenetics holds the key to understanding obesity, cancer, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, autism, and diabetes.

One in eight people over age 65 suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Most patients develop late-onset Alzheimer's. Scientists have found a predisposing genetic risk factor for this type of the disease, and while they have yet to discover a direct genetic link, researchers have isolated the early-onset Alzheimer’s gene. Early-onset Alzheimer's is rare, affecting only five percent of Alzheimer’s patients. But it can strike as early as 30, with devastating consequences for the patient and their families. Many families are unprepared for the difficult decisions caregivers face when their loved ones are diagnosed with early- or late-onset Alzheimer's. 

What tendencies are we born with? What is a choice? And does it make you feel better or worse to know that certain things – ranging from weight to our intelligence — are one or the other?

Think, for example of sexual orientation. A lot of people have a lot invested in whether we’re born gay or whether it’s a choice. Is it one or the other? Does it even matter?

We look ahead at this week in news. It's the official beginning of shrimping season in Louisiana; Russia's grain embargo has just taken effect; the Obama administration tries to figure out how to approach mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; a judge's ruling effectively bans planting genetically modified sugar beets; and the Congressional Budget Office will release its budget outlook.

A team of scientists have successfully developed new living bacteria from non-living parts, which they’re calling the first “synthetic cell.”

In a newly-released paper in the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics, scientists in Tel Aviv, Israel, describe how they have found a process to fabricate DNA. The process involved removing DNA from a woman’s blood sample and adding DNA from a different person. The process was so easy, they say, that any biology undergraduate has the tools to engineer his or her own crime scene.  (DNA evidence left at crime scenes has been considered nearly incontrovertible in the past; this process raises questions about its reliability going forward.) 

We talk to Timothy Bestor, a professor of genetics and development at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, and Tania Simoncelli, a science advisor at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Lawmakers and homeless advocates are pushing for legislation that would make attacks against the homeless, a hate crime. The recommendation for the bill comes on the heels of a recent study from the National Coalition for the Homeless. It says there's an uptick in violence against the homeless -- including ...