Genes and ethics - Exhibition

From Mendel's peas to bar-code babies

GMOs on our plates? Death Row inmates proved innocent by their DNA? The Telethon’s millions invested in treating children? Cloning as a response to sterility problems? Genetics is everywhere – or almost. It affects the evolution of our daily lives, a little more each day. But what do you think of it? The aim of this science, to manipulate the stuff of life, often appears worrying – no doubt because we do not understand it. Genes, DNA, chromosomes, cloning, GMOs... they all seem so complex and abstract. But we do not have to become geneticists to gain an idea of how genetics could decide our future...

An exhibition in 2 parts.

The gene workshop
Here, you will discover the minuscule elements to which the geneticists pay so much attention. Six metallic structures with different colours, representing six biological elements: the gene (blue), the protein (mauve), the nucleotide (yellow), DNA (orange), the chromosome (red), the cell (green). These elements can be discovered in any order. But the scale of sizes, on the left-hand wall as you enter, will help you imagine their respective sizes, and the desks on the wall opposite present the history of their discovery.

The gene laboratory
Here, four lab tables will help you understand the issues in genetic engineering: cloning, identifying, modifying, correcting... For each sequence, there are explanatory texts and objects and an interactive screen enabling you to listen to researchers and test your knowledge with a game.