Race: The power of an illusion (Episode One)
The Difference Between Us
2003

• Everyone can tell a Nubian from a Norwegian, so why not divide people into races? That's the question taken up by the first episode, The difference between us, which demonstrates how recent scientific discoveries have toppled the concept of biological race. The program follows a dozen students, including Black athletes and Asian American string players, who sequence and compare their own DNA. The results surprise them - and us - when they discover their closest genetic matches are as likely to be with people from other "races" as their own.

• Much of the program is devoted to understanding why. Looking at skin color differences, disease, human evolution, even genetic traits, we learn there's not one characteristic, one trait, or even a single gene that distinguishes all members of one "race" from another. One by one, our myths about race - including "natural" superiority and inferiority - are taken apart.

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