Books & ideas

The Almost Perfect Baby

Jean-Hugues Déchaux — 2018-09-17T07:00:00Z

The genetic revolution is marked, in particular, by complex transformations in reproductive technologies. From our relationship to motherhood to the idea of ‘free-choice eugenics', Jean-Hugues Déchaux looks back over the ethical controversies surrounding genetic engineering.

A New Race Paradigm?

Claude-Olivier Doron & Jean-Paul Lallemand-Stempak — 2015-07-13T05:00:00Z

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of studies by jurists, anthropologists and sociologists on the resurgence of the biological concept of race in medical research, the medico-legal field and genealogy. They have shown how DNA data that is seemingly of the utmost neutrality and technicality is in fact bringing into play a whole set of sociopolitical and economic values, choices and relationships.

Changing Cells: Understanding Epigenetics

Cristelle Terroni — 2015-01-30T10:27:52Z

What is epigenetics? In this interview Edith Heard explains the specificity of this relatively new discipline which studies the genetic expression of our cells and represents new hope in the field of cancer research.

“Bacteria can think too”

Ariane Poulantzas — 2013-10-28T08:00:00Z

Alain Prochiantz, a professor in the Morphogenetics Department at the Collège de France, retraces the twists and turns – what he calls “accidents” – in his scientific career. One such “accident,” a major unexpected discovery, has redrawn the theoretical contours of his discipline and paved the way for new therapeutic approaches. Prochiantz speaks here as a scientist, but also as a philosopher of science and as an artist, all of which he feels are mutually complementary pursuits.