DiscoverScience on Player FMWhy the claims about Hitler’s genome are misleading - The world, the universe and us
Why the claims about Hitler’s genome are misleading - The world, the universe and us

Why the claims about Hitler’s genome are misleading - The world, the universe and us

Update: 2025-11-13
Share

Description

Episode 331


This week sees the broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK of a documentary called Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a dictator. Geneticists have managed to find a DNA sample from Adolf Hitler and have sequenced it and verified it, and now we have his genome. The big question is what does this really tell us – what can we tell from someone’s genome? 


In this special episode of the podcast, Rowan Hooper is joined by two of the lead figures on the documentary. Turi King is a geneticist at the University of Bath and is best known for the identification of the remains of Richard III, and Alex Kay is a historian of Nazi Germany based at Potsdam University in Germany. 


Rowan also discusses the documentary with New Scientist reporter Michael Le Page.


To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comments 
In Channel
loading
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

Why the claims about Hitler’s genome are misleading - The world, the universe and us

Why the claims about Hitler’s genome are misleading - The world, the universe and us