Lesson 12: societal Issues

We will talk about sample datasets of our friendly neighbor “Jamie”. They do not exist, they are simply an example to better our understanding about organization of data and its storage + retrieval by companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com.

Datasets in use:
Links to an external site.

Eye color
Genetic weight
Cheek Dimples
Ancestry Composition

Choose any one of the datasets and make a spreadsheet that interprets the data with the following variables:
Variable name, Variable type, Variable source, Variable contribution

ACTIVITY 1:

1) What made you categorize the following variables the way you did?
2) Are there more ways than one to organize the data in front of you? Remember that data is only as good as the questions you ask.
3) Is there enough data to run tests for data triangulation?

ACTIVITY 2:
23andMe privacy-security concerns:
More than 80 percent of 23andMe customers agree to let the company share their DNA with research partners. That’s a question consumers need to weigh as they consider genome testing. Talk about the following points in a paragraph pertaining to the functions of 23andMe:

1. Hacking

2. Who may profit from your DNA? (Hint: Not you)

3. Laws covering genetic privacy are not broad enough, experts say.

4. Law enforcement knows these companies have your DNA, and they may want it. They’re already asking.

5. The company’s situation — or privacy statement — can change — has changed.

23andMe