This listenable overview covers the rise of medical genetics through the past century, and the eugenic impulses it has inspired. Nicholas Gillham reviews the linkages between genes and disease, ethnic groups' differential susceptibility to genetic traits and disorders, personalized medicine, and crucial social and ethical issues arising from the field's progress. Includes:

• How genetic diseases arise and why some ethnic groups are more susceptible to specific disorders
• How scientists are trying to identify the genetic factors underlying multifaceted conditions like diabetes and heart disease
• The value and limitations of genetic information in prevention, treatment, and cure
• The complex, subtle interrelationships between genes and cancer
• What science knows - and doesn't know - about genetics and human behavior
• The fraught, controversial history of attempts to link genes with intelligence
• Gene therapy: what's worked and what hasn't
• The potential and profound implications of personalized medicine