National History Day 2014: Chemistry and Biology Topics

The National History Day theme for 2014 is "Rights & Responsibilities in History!"

In my NHD experience, I found science topics (among others) to be underrepresented. This is a first in a series of posts offering some suggestions for topics. This post focuses on chemistry and biology.

The "Rights & Responsibilities" theme lends itself to topics dealing with ethics in science. Some of these topics will be areas that bring up ethical questions, and others will be specific events in which people acted ethically or unethically. All of these topics should be interpreted with respect to the theme.

The list of topics is below the fold.
Note: If you're looking for 2014-2015 ideas (Leadership and Legacy), go here!

Biology
Extinction or species survival -- could choose a specific species if there's enough material.
Animal testing
Human subject research (below are some notable unethical examples of research with human subjects, but there are others. Search "medical ethics.")
Tuskegee syphilis experiment
Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study
Guatemala syphilis experiment
Nuremberg Code
Declaration of Helsinki
Eugenics
Cloning
Gene therapy/genetic engineering
Privacy and gene sequencing
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
Brain imaging and privacy
Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells (note: this has been a popular topic over the past couple of years)
Vaccines and herd immunity
Genetically modified food
Food irradiation
Biological warfare and the Biological Weapons Convention
Silent Spring (probably a more common topic)
Alternative energies (probably choose a specific one)
Kyoto Protocol
Climate legislation (focus on something specific, or at least a specific type of legislation)
The Jungle/FDA
Something inspired by documentaries like Food, Inc (maybe industrial agriculture)
Hippocratic Oath
Euthanasia
Culture clash and medical care (perhaps inspired/informed by The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down)
Crick, Watson, and Rosalind Franklin (recognizing/citing the work of others)
Evolution and creation in public education
Medicare and right to health
Birth control
Forest fires and responsibility
Faith healing

Chemistry
Disposal/storage of toxic waste
Chemical warfare
Percy Julian (African-American chemist)
Alfred Nobel and dynamite

Somewhere in Between
Right to health and access to medicine/clean water/food