May 18, 2012
Bryan Sykes, the evolutionary geneticist at Oxford University and the author of The Seven Daughters of Eve, is adding to his oeuvre of popular work on genetics with his new book, DNA USA, A Genetic Portrait of America. As with his previous work, Sykes breaks down some of the complicated aspects of genetics [...]
May 17, 2012
Jennie Cole, c.1895 As the series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. begins its 10-week run on PBS, The Spittoon will feature posts from 23andMe’s Ancestry Ambassadors featuring their own stories about using DNA to dig into ancestry. By CeCe Moore I have always felt a special affinity for [...]
May 5, 2012
Today is Cinco de Mayo. This day commemorates the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France in the Battle of Puebla (not Mexican independence day as is commonly believed), but is more widely observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. There are different ways to celebrate [...]
April 23, 2012
As the series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. begins its 10-week run on PBS, The Spittoon will feature posts from 23andMe’s Ancestry Ambassadors featuring their own stories about using DNA to dig into ancestry. By Andrea Badger There has been a legend in my family, passed down from [...]
April 16, 2012
As the series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. begins its 10-week run on PBS, The Spittoon will feature posts from 23andMe’s Ancestry Ambassadors featuring their own stories about using DNA to dig into ancestry. By Ann Turner, M.D. Many members of my extended family have inherited a [...]
April 10, 2012
As the series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. continues its 10-week run on PBS, The Spittoon will feature posts from 23andMe’s Ancestry Ambassadors featuring their own stories about using DNA to dig into ancestry. By Shannon Christmas African American genealogy remains a challenging [...]
April 4, 2012
A recent study in The Lancet reported that variation on the Y chromosome -- haplogroup I, tagged by the SNP rs2032597 -- is associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) in British men, with an odds ratio of 1.56. This finding stands out for several reasons. For one thing, the effect is substantially larger [...]
March 16, 2012
Nearly 37 million Americans claim to have Irish heritage according to a national survey conducted in 2009. That’s over eight times the number of people living in Ireland today. Although it’s remarkable that nearly 1 in 10 Americans might say “Kiss Me I’m Irish!” on St. Patrick’s day, it’s not [...]
February 23, 2012
Although there has been a recent boom in DNA research, little is known about the connection between DNA and disease in African Americans. This is because most genetic research studies intentionally limit enrollment to a single population — usually northern Europeans — since the analysis is easier to carry [...]
February 22, 2012
Data from the 2010 census showed that about 13% of people living in the United States self-identify as African American, but from a genetic point of view, ethnicity isn't so black and white. Most African Americans have genetic ancestry tracing back to both Africa and Europe but the exact proportion can vary [...]
