ABSTRACT
Metaphors abound in discussions concerning new developments in molecular biology and genetic engineering. Their use facilitates communication and public understanding in a complex and relatively new area of science and technology. The very identification of the 'big science' project to unravel the complexity of the human genome as a mapping process, immediately sensitises to its associated vocabulary. The chapter deals with an account of how useful metaphors were in communicating some of the complexity associated with advances in biology and the new genetic technologies. It shows that, in the world-wide project to map the human genome, cartographic metaphors have become particularly resonant. B. Balmer applies the boundary concept to the development of the Human Genome Project in Britain, suggesting that it acted as a boundary object allowing a range of conflicting interests to enrol each other and ensure the desired outcome.
