Biology is a core requirement of most American high school curricula. And part of the content of high school biology classes are units about genetics. Students learn about Gregor Mendel and the peas, about the double helix and how understanding DNA revolutionized science, and how specific genetic variants become readily visible phenotypes. Generations of Americans leave high school—where most will have their last formal learning about science of any kind—with at least a vague sense that genes inform aspects of who we are, and, as a corollary, that changing genes may change who we are.
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