EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Genes en Tela de Juicio narrates the development of an application of molecular biology which, by allowing for individual identification, revolutionised criminology and the biological determination of paternity.

(Extracted from the back cover).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contenido.

-Introducción.

-Agradecimientos.

-1. El Hilo de la Vida.

-2. Creced y Recombinaos.

-3. La Huella de Jeffreys.

-4. Watson, Crick y Holmes.

-5. Secuencias por un Tubo.

-6. Morir en Nueva York.

-7. La Ley de Murphy.

-8. Ángeles del Infierno y Genetistas.

-9. El Umbral de la Discordia.

-10. Pregunta a Tu Almohada.

-11. Tócala Otra Vez, Sam.

-12. Pasado Sangriento.

-13. El Crimen del Siglo.

-Glosario.

-Bibliografía.

-Indice.

OUR REVIEW

The progress of the application of the biological methods to identify a given person has been spectacular in the last years. It no longer turns out to be unusual the fact that a non-recognised paternity case has been solved at court thanks to the DNA test, or that a criminal is found thanks to the biological clues they left at the crime site.

A skin flake, a hair, almost everything is useful to identify a person beyond any reasonable doubt. Genes en Tela de Juicio investigates in depth the application of this potential to the law, as well as the importance and the consequences that this will bring in the future.

The author, a doctor in biology of the Universidad de la Habana and a journalist, introduces us into the fascinating terrain of molecular biology, describing with clarity what DNA is and how it is studied, and then devotes a good part of her book to the main theme of the work, the utilization of genetics in the law arena.

Thus, we discover that genetics has become an almost imprescindible tool, capable per se to condemn or reject suspects, no matter the time passed since the crime was committed.

Among all the cases described by Alina Quevedo perhaps the best known one is that of American ex-football player O.J. Simpson, at whose trial the word DNA was mentioned over 10,000 times. The way millions of people followed the case for months, those readers interested in the details of the application of genetic studies at this trial will perfectly recall how it was developed.