This year, I received an unusual birthday gift of a small, possible Pandora’s box that seemed simple and innocuous with bright rainbow-like stripes against crisp, white cardboard.
Yet, as the sunshine peeked in through the windows, it made me spit early one morning. Reluctantly, but not with disgust, into a slim plastic tube.
Knowing my passion for the sciences, and insatiable curiosity about history and everything else, a few weeks ago, my two conspiratorial children presented me with an irresistible at-home genetic testing kit, a direct-to-consumer service that seemed inconceivable at the turn of the century. What was once an expensive novelty of the most sensitive of profiling has exploded into a lucrative and booming industry that remains largely unregulated, with dozens of choices being promoted in the United States of America (USA) alone.
