Genetics
Entine is the founding director of the Genetic Literacy Project, which is under the umbrella of STATS at George Mason University, and is affiliated with the Center for Risk & Health Communication. It focuses on the nexus of media, policy and genetics, both human and agricultural.
He has written three books on genetics. Let Them Eat Precaution: How Politics is Undermining the Genetic Revolution addresses the controversy over genetic modification in agriculture. His first book, Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About It was inspired by the documentary on black athletes written with Brokaw in 1989. It was favorably reviewed by The New York Times and numerous other publications. There were some critical reviews, claiming that the subject was inappropriate as it could encourage a racialist view of human relations.
In 2007, Abraham's Children: Race, Identity and the DNA of the Chosen People, which examined the shared ancestry of Jews, Christians and Muslims, and addressed the question "Who is a Jew?" as seen through the prism of DNA, was published. Entine also addresses the controversial issue of why Jews are disproportionately successful and reviews studies that show that Ashkenazi Jews have higher IQ test scores than other population groups, writing that IQ is mostly heritable. Kirkus Reviews called the book an epic tale of 'The Chosen People'...Engaging and informative reading for Jews and non-Jews alike. According to Library Journal, explorations take him from his own Jewish family members' cancer diagnoses to genetic labs—both academic and commercial—across the world, with lengthy forays into Jewish history, the history of Israel and Zionism, and the split between social anthropology and biological anthropology. Harry Ostrer in Nature Genetics called it a broad, well-documented sweep of Jewish history that will inform even the most knowledgeable of readers".
Entine is a public speaker on genetics and identity for the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Federations of North America.
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