New York artist Nancy Burson used her invention, called the Human Race Machine, to generate the series of composite photographs that appears with this article. The machine takes a photograph of an individual--in this case, a white woman--and adds and subtracts various outward features of racial identity to show what a person might look like if he or she were a member of another race. Burson says she seeks to use her work to underscore the commonality of humanity. And indeed, outward features often say little about the bulk of a person's genetic makeup. The Human Race Machine was one of the most popular attractions at the Millennium Dome in London, where it drew hundreds of thousands of people. More about the artist and her work can be found on her Web site, www.nancyburson.com

This article was originally published with the title Does Race Exist?.

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