This statement is simultaneously correct and incorrect. There are nearly eight billion human beings around the world. Each person has their own unique genetic code that makes them special and an individual. That same code connects every single human being to each other and to all lifeforms on earth. Everything that is alive has DNA (or RNA).
Humans love boundaries. They help them control resources, concentrate them and develop the land, sea and air. Without the concept of the nation-state, inventions that better our lives would have been hard to come by.
Borders also divide humans into ‘us and them’, creating artificial barriers, and when resources appear sparse, conflict breaks out.
So what can humans learn from their own DNA to co-exist with each other and realise that in the end, we are all human, and bleed the same way? Stopping that bloodshed is paramount to our progress. How can our DNA shed light on us?
The project Equal by Nature wants to bring together diverse communities around Malta to play with genetics and arts to delve into these and other topics.
The project is funded by the STEM Community Fund of the Esplora Interactive Science Centre. Partners include Joseph Borg, Raphael Vella and Maria Pisani from the University of Malta, and Emma Clarke, Edward Duca, and project leader Karen Fiorini from the NGO Malta Chamber of Scientists.