UPDATED 7:34pm
Arwa Gunja here, on the night shift.
Who owns our genetic makeup? We’ve talked about this on The Takeaway before, when a Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that a biopharmaceutical company could no longer hold the patent on several genes. But this topic is resurfacing this week in a very different context. The Havasupai Indians gave their DNA to Arizona State University so researchers could find out why there is such a high rate of diabetes in the tribe. But, tribal members claim the university used their genetic makeup for much more, including looking at mental illness and tracing the tribe’s geographic origins, which contradict their own traditional stories. Now the university has settled with the Havasupai Indians at the price of $700,000, the first time individuals have been paid after claims their DNA was misused. We’ll take a look at the ethics of testing DNA and ask whether vulnerable communities in particular are taken advantage of when it comes to medical research.
We’re also having a two-part conversation about the role of Google after the company made public censorship requests from different governments. Tomorrow we’ll talk with Jeff Rosen, a law professor at George Washington University, about whether Google has its own foreign policy agenda, much like a nation would. Then on Friday we’ll talk with Nicole Wong. If Google were a country, Wong would be their secretary of state.
And the NFL draft starts tomorrow night. Even if you support a losing team, is the draft a time when hope springs eternal? The St. Louis Rams get the first pick, and we’ll talk with an ardent fan.
Anna Sale here on the day shift.
The whiff of the summer vacation is coming to classrooms across America, but it's coming with a dark deadline: the need to layoff teachers to meet budgets. School districts from North Carolina to California — and everywhere in between — say budget cuts are forcing them to eliminate teachers’ jobs. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is warning of a looming "education catastrophe," as districts across the country make cuts. We’re reaching out to superintendents in some of the hardest hit districts to ask how they’re coping with teacher cuts. We're also asking management schools to see if there is new thinking about how to make these cuts to do the least harm in the classroom.
And, of course, teacher layoffs are just one way school districts are trying to cut budgets. We want you to be a reporter for us: What cuts are you seeing in your school? How is it affecting your family? Marko says on our Facebook page, "My son was awarded 2nd place in last year's Detroit Science Fair @ Cobo. The awards ceremony, that was to be held @ the Detroit Library, was cancelled due to budget cuts. My son was bummed. He placed 2nd again this year, but now he has no expectations."
Also tomorrow, As President Obama prepares to come to Wall Street tomorrow, we're looking into the psychological assumptions at the basis of our existing financial regulations. Is assuming that investors are rational actors getting us in trouble?
Finally, it's hard to believe but Youtube is just five years old. Tomorrow we'll look back at the sites earliest videos, and hear from two people who's lives were forever changed by uploaded videos: Tay "Chocolate Rain" Zonday and Mr. B, the director of the PS22 Chorus in New York City.
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