We know you’ve been studying hard at 23andMe U., but you’ve still got one more quiz to complete. 
This one hinges on some of the genetic differences between men and women.
So before you matriculate, here’s the last quiz. Now don’t sweat it, you’ll do fine and we’ll even give you some hints along the way to help!
You’ve learned that we all have 23 pairs of chromosomes. If you were paying attention in the last quiz you’ll know that 22 of those pairs contain the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/gen101/origins/">same genes on each chromosome</a> and are called “autosomes”. These question are about the all-important 23rd pair of chromosomes. Watch the videos and then test your knowledge.
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<h3><a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/v/genetics-101-part-3--where-do-your-genes-come-from" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Genetics 101 Part 3: Where Do Genes Come From</a></h3>
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Find out how chromosomes and genes are passed down from parent to child.
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4 min 20 sec
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<h3><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCm2x9OABI8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Genetics 101 Part 5: Why No Why?</a></h3>
Description: 
Find out why women don&#8217;t have a Y chromosome, but can still learn about their paternal ancestry.
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1 min 10 sec
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Update: This quiz is officially over! <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-and-you/back-to-school-sex-chromosomes-quiz-results/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out the answers here.</a>
<div style="border: 1px solid #000; padding: 5px; font-style: italic; margin: 15px; width: 550px; float: center;">
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-12163" style="float: left; margin-right: 15px;" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/JRBgdIBXKIeVIdETJrxYIw_ttam_logo.jpg" alt="" width="24" height="40" />You have now completed the 23rd Chromosome quiz. Click on the certificate below and get a larger image which you can print out and display it with pride.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15341" title="CertificateXY" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/CertificateXY-300x198.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="198" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/CertificateXY-300x198.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/CertificateXY-768x508.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/CertificateXY.jpg 841w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Want to continue your education? You can learn about <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">yourself from both a health and ancestry perspective </a> on 23andMe. Not yet a customer? Visit our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store/cart/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">store</a>.
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23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Back to School: All About Sex… Chromosomes

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6445" title="elderly_1" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/elderly_1-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/elderly_1-300x199.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/elderly_1.jpg 425w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
A study published in March in the journal <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0032840">PLoS ONE</a> suggests that having more African ancestry is associated with higher risk for type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in the United States, affecting about 26 million people and more than 25% of the population over the age of 65. While most people realize that lifestyle factors like an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise increase the risk of developing the disease, many may not realize that ancestry plays a role, too. In fact, type 2 diabetes strikes non-white ethnic groups at higher rates, with African Americans experiencing the highest rates of all. 
 
Higher rates of obesity and heart disease, and lower socioeconomic status in the African American population certainly contribute to this trend, but, as <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0032840">this study</a> found, those factors aren’t the whole story. Led by Ching-Yu Cheng and Linda Kao from Johns Hopkins University, the research team analyzed DNA from more than 7,000 African Americans and found that those with the most (&gt; 87.5%) African ancestry had about 33% higher odds of type 2 diabetes compared to those with the least (&lt; 80.5%) African ancestry after accounting for body mass index (BMI) and socioeconomic status.
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See your <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/ancestry">ancestry breakdown</a> in your 23andMe account.
Not yet a customer? <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store">Visit our store</a>!
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A person’s ancestry can be traced back to various regions of the world (e.g., Europe, Asia, and Africa) using genetic markers that are known to be indicative of those ancestral groups. On average, the African Americans in the study had about 84% African ancestry.
Cheng and Kao’s findings add further support to the idea that differences in disease rates across different populations can be partly explained by ancestry genetics. A previous study looking at <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/the-ancestry-link-for-atrial-fibrillation-risk">atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm disorder) in African Americans</a> also found that having more African ancestry correlated with higher odds of the condition. Most likely, correlations like these reflect variations in the frequency of many different genetic factors involved in disease. In a few cases, though, individual genetic factors can have greater importance. For example, in East Asians, who have some of the highest rates of esophageal cancer in the world, a specific genetic factor causing the “<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/researchers-warn-that-physicians-need-to-ask-about-alcohol-flushing-to-reduce-esophageal-cancer-risk">alcohol flush</a>” reaction plays a direct role in the development of esophageal cancer.
Studies like this one highlight the complex interplay between ancestry and health in African Americans, the vast majority of whom can trace significant parts of their ancestry back to at least two continents. Combined with <a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/recent/">DNA-based tools</a> that allow people to see their <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">ancestral breakdown</a>, health risk assessments that incorporate genetic ancestry may help make healthcare more personalized.

African Ancestry and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

For back-to-school month we’re running a series of posts on genetic factors that may impact learning. Here we describe a variant that may influence a person’s ability to learn from their mistakes. In a <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/traits-2/back-to-school-smarts-and-genetics/">prior post</a> we discuss a variant linked to non-verbal IQ performance.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-15553" title="Avoidance of Errors" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Avoidance-of-Errors.png" alt="" width="393" height="740" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Avoidance-of-Errors.png 393w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Avoidance-of-Errors-159x300.png 159w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 393px) 100vw, 393px" /><a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Avoidance-of-Errors1.png"> 
</a><a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Avoidance-of-Errors.png"> 
</a>Attribution: http://xkcd.com/242/
Why do some people have a hard time learning from their mistakes?
It might have to do with genetics. At least one research study suggests that the tendency to make rewarded choices while avoiding those that receive negative feedback may be influenced by genetics.
In <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Search&amp;db=pubmed&amp;term=18063800">this study</a>, 26 German individuals took a test that assessed their ability to prefer &#8220;correct&#8221; choices and avoid &#8220;incorrect&#8221; ones. The authors genotyped the subjects at the SNP , which is thought to affect a gene involved in dopamine signaling. The neurotransmitter dopamine is involved in trial-and-error learning and variations in genes related to dopamine signaling may also affect a person&#8217;s ability to learn.
People with the GG genotype at learned to avoid choices associated with negative feedback relatively easily, while people with the AG or AA genotypes did not learn as well to avoid these &#8220;punished&#8221; choices; in other words, they did not learn from their mistakes. The AG and AA genotypes have also been correlated with up to a 30% reduction in dopamine receptor density in a region of the brain known as the striatum.
( is commonly referred to in the scientific literature as the DRD2 TaqIA polymorphism. The A version of is equivalent to the A1 allele of DRD2 TaqIA, while the G version of the SNP corresponds to the A2 allele.)
 
If you’re looking for a genetic excuse, this is a good one to point to. The next time your spouse is amazed that you left the house again without your phone … or house keys … just say that you’re genetically predisposed to not learn from your mistakes.
The results presented here were obtained with a very small sample size and have not been independently replicated. While the results are intriguing, it’s important to realize that learning is an extremely complex behavior that is also strongly influenced by environment.
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Genetic Differences in Dopamine Receptors and Effect on the Brain 

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In a more recent <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/12/3695.long">study</a> by the same researchers, 28 German males performed a similar learning task except partway through the experiment the “correct” choice was reversed – the one that used to be right was now wrong. The scientists found that people with at least one A at had a hard time consistently choosing the “correct” response after the reversal even if they had just chosen and been rewarded for that response. Perhaps not surprisingly, the behavior seemed to correlate with differences in brain activity. The researchers imaged the participants’ brains (with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_magnetic_resonance_imaging">functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI</a>) while they performed the task and saw more signal in GG individuals (A1- in the figure) compared to AG and AA people (A1+ in the figure) in parts of the striatum and ventral midbrain where dopamine receptors are located. A similar correlation between reduced brain activity in dompinergic regions of the brain and impaired ability to “learn from mistakes” was also observed in the original study. Figure from: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&amp;retmode=ref&amp;cmd=prlinks&amp;id=19321766">J Neurosci. 2009 March 25; 29(12): 3695—3704. </a>
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Back-to-School: The Genetics of Learning from Your Mistakes

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-15595 size-medium" title="DNA-bases" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/DNA-bases-300x226.png" alt="" width="300" height="226" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/DNA-bases-300x226.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/DNA-bases.png 607w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Attention all students! We&#8217;re extending the Genetics 101 quiz through Sunday, September 16th to give everyone plenty of time to brush up on their genetics and earn a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card!
If you already filled out the quiz and weren’t prompted to enter your name and email address (or you aren&#8217;t sure if you did), please take the time to fill it out again. We apologize for the inconvenience!
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/learn-genetics-101">Take the Genetics 101 quiz. </a>

Genetics Quiz Extended

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-15470 size-thumbnail" title="Gregor" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Gregor-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Gregor-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Gregor-271x271.jpg 271w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Our Hero 
Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk and biologist, worked out the pattern of inheritance of various traits. He showed that a “dominant” trait is one that always shows up in offspring while a “recessive” trait is one that is masked by a dominant gene.</div>
Update: If you took this quiz before 10 a.m. PST on Monday, September 10th, we neglected to capture your name and email address. We sincerely apologize for this oversight. Please fill out the quiz again and this time you will be prompted to enter your name and email. We&#8217;ve extended this quiz through 11:59 p.m. PST September 16th to give you plenty of time!   
Pop quiz.  Who was Gregor Mendel?
If only hazy visions of pea pods come to mind you might want to buff up on your biology.
Learning about genetics isn’t just for high schoolers and college students – it’s an interesting topic of exploration no matter what your age or profession.
We&#8217;re going to help you with a quick primer and links to some of our online educational videos found on our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/gen101/">website</a>. And to make sure it all sunk in we&#8217;ve got a quiz at the bottom of this post.
What Are Genes? 
DNA contains the instructions for making you and takes the shape of a twisted ladder, having two parallel, but complementary strands. There are four letters to the DNA alphabet – A, T, G and C. Human DNA is organized into two pairs of 23 chromosomes and chromosomes are further organized into short segments of DNA called genes. If you imagine your DNA as a cookbook, then your genes are the recipes. Written in the DNA alphabet, the recipes tell your cells how to function and what traits to express.
Where Do Genes Come From? 
You were gifted with a set of 23 chromosomes from your mom and a set of 23 chromosomes from your dad. Twenty two of the pairs contain the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/gen101/origins/">same genes on each chromosome</a> and are called “autosomes”. The remaining pair is composed of the “sex chromosomes” and isn’t necessarily identical – females typically have two X chromosomes and males have an X and a Y.
What Are Phenotypes? 
Slight variation in your genes is part of what makes you unique. Your observable traits, also known as your phenotypes, result from interactions between your genes and the environment. Differences in some phenotypes, like height, are determined mostly by genes. If you have short parents and grandparents, you probably don&#8217;t tower over your peers, though environmental factors like a healthy diet might give you a little lift. The influence of genes on other traits, such as your personality, is less well understood.
Did you get all that? Take our quiz and find out! Prizes will be given to a random selection of people who answer all questions correctly (perfect for buying that genetics textbook on your wishlist). Good luck!
Update: This quiz is officially over! 
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-12163" style="float: left; margin-right: 15px;" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/JRBgdIBXKIeVIdETJrxYIw_ttam_logo.jpg" alt="" width="24" height="40" />You have now completed the entire 23andMe Genetics 101 course, the second in a three-part Back-to-School educational course series! Click on the certificate below get a larger image which you can print out and display it with pride.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15549" title="CertificateGenetics" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/CertificateGenetics-300x198.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="198" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/CertificateGenetics-300x198.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/CertificateGenetics-768x508.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/CertificateGenetics.jpg 845w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PreHistoryPostCertificate.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 
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Want to continue your education? Learn about <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">your health and ancestry </a>with 23andMe. Not yet a customer? Visit our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store/cart/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">store</a>.
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Back-to-School: Genetics 101

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-15558 size-full" title="encode" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/encode.jpg" alt="" width="574" height="334" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/encode.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/encode-300x175.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 574px) 100vw, 574px" />
Editor&#8217;s note: The post has been edited from the original to reflect changes in the product.
We’re a little late to the party, but yesterday a consortium of scientists, who are part of a project called The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, or<a href="https://www.genome.gov/10005107"> ENCODE</a>, came out with what some are calling a roadmap of the human genome.
<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v489/n7414/full/489049a.html">It’s a big party.</a>
More than 400 scientists worked on the project, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health over the last five years at a cost of about $130 million. The announcement came with a blizzard of 30 papers in the journals Nature and Genome Research and many more are expected to come.
There has been some great coverage that explains both the background and gives some context, such as a nice piece by Nature writer<a href="https://www.nature.com/news/encode-the-human-encyclopaedia-1.11312"> Brendan Maher’s</a>. Discovery Magazine blogger Ed Yong did a yeoman’s job of the history of ENCODE’s work and what the future may hold. And <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/science/far-from-junk-dna-dark-matter-proves-crucial-to-health.html?_r=2&amp;hp">Gina Kolata’s article</a> in the New York Times includes our favorite quote. It came from Eric Lander, president of the Broad Institute, who compared the data to a sort of Google Map of the genome and said it was a stunning resource for researchers.
“My head explodes at the amount of data,” Lander said. 
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Us too, and the challenge is really giving people a sense of what it all means. Much of the work in genetics has been focused on the areas in our DNA that code for proteins, but this is a very small part – just 1 percent – of our genome. The ENCODE project is an attempt to map the other 99 percent, the uncharted “dark matter” of our genome.
There’s much that’s interesting there it turns out. And the work sheds some light on the importance of what once was labeled “junk DNA.” It turns out, unsurprisingly, that it’s not junk and the data from ENCODE provides evidence that many of those mysterious regions of the genome play important functional roles.
For us at 23andMe the <a href="http://regulomedb.org/">ENCODE data</a> sheds more light on some of the genetic variations (mainly single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs) scientists have associated with health conditions and traits. S
There are many SNPs in the 9p21 region associated with coronary heart disease, and based on the ENCODE data, it appears that this SNP and rs1333047 are the primary functional SNPs. Of the various SNPs in the region, <a href="https://genome.cshlp.org/content/22/9/1748.full">rs10757278 and rs1333047 are likely to affect the binding of transcription factors</a>  – proteins that bind to DNA and regulate the expression of genes. These two SNPs are perfectly correlated in people with European ancestry, and the G version of rs10757278 is associated with higher odds of coronary heart disease in people with European ancestry.
Another example is the SNP rs964184 located near the APOA5 gene, which has also been associated with cholesterol levels. The ENCODE data show that it likely affects binding of transcription factors and results in differences in expression of a &#8220;target&#8221; gene of those transcription factors. The G version of rs964184 is associated with higher odds of coronary heart disease in Europeans.
These examples highlight how this new data can inform the “why” and “how” of genetic associations. Where before scientists often had very little idea which exact SNP was involved and why it was associated with a disease, now we can narrow down the SNPs likely to be responsible and start looking at their biological impact. The ENCODE data show what Kolata describes as at least four million gene switches in our DNA that collectively control how the cells, organs and other tissues in our bodies develop and behave.
Though there’s still much to learn about this newly revealed and incredibly complex genetic circuitry, it’s clear that the data will be a resource for many scientists working in genetics including us here at 23andMe.

A Map of the Uncharted Genome

Correction: Ouch! We mistakenly listed the wrong answer to the last question in the quiz. It has been corrected. Populations are more similar now than they were 500 years ago due to migration and intermixing. The correction did not change the results for the winner. 

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<h2>Okay students, pencils down!</h2>
Last <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/human-prehistory-101">Friday</a> we posted the first of a three-part series of educational courses in celebration of the Back-to-School season (see above). The entries are now in. You can see how you did by comparing with correct answers below. Also, a special congratulations goes out to  James  Gamble for being selected among all the entries. For the rest of you, you&#8217;ll have more chances to win an Amazon gift card as we post the remaining two quizzes in our series. For those who love learning for the sake of learning, the course is still available <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/human-prehistory-101">here</a>.
Prologue 
Question: When do scientists think the last common ancestor between the human and the chimpanzee lived? 
Correct Answer: 6.5 million years ago 
Despite any suspicions fostered by your last family reunion, scientists think that the last common ancestor between you and the chimp lived 6.5 million years ago.
Part 1: Out of (Eastern) Africa 
Question: The first humans reached Europe and Australia at approximately the same time. 
Correct Answer: True 
Around 45,000 years ago, humans, who had originated in Africa, were venturing into both Europe and Australia. Although the trip to Australia was longer, in some ways it was easier. The traveling to Australia meant coastal beaches and warm weather, whereas traveling to Europe meant harsh terrain and cold climates. Thus, our ancestors migrated along these two paths &#8212; paths of very different lengths &#8212; in approximately the same amount of time.
Part 2: Weathering the Storm 
Question: How much cooler (on average) was it during the ice age? 
Correct Answer: 15 ° F 
During the ice age, the thermometer (had thermometers been invented) would have stayed 15 F lower than it reads today. These cold temperatures meant that mile-thick glaciers covered much of Europe, North America, and Asia.
Part 3: Agriculture Rocks Our World 
Question: Which was not one of the principal food stables of Papua New Guinea? 
Correct Answer: guinea pigs 
Despite their name, guinea pigs were eaten in South America, not Papua New Guinea.
Epilogue 
Question: True or False: Ethnic groups are more distinct from each other than they were 500 years ago? 
Correct Answer: False 
Due to modern travel, more individuals are coming into contact with (and having children with) partners with ancestry different than their own.
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Back-to-School: Human Prehistory 101 Test Results

<div id="attachment_15498" style="width: 230px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-15498" class="wp-image-15498 size-full" title="levine-ross" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/levine-ross.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="147" />Dr. Ross Levine</div>
Last year 23andMe launched a<a href="https://www.23andme.com/mpn/"> Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Research Initiative</a> to study this group of rare blood cancers. We are now very close to reaching our goal of enrolling 1,000 patients and are encouraged by what we’ve already learned.
We’re also humbled that another star in the field of MPN research,<a href="http://www.mskcc.org/research/lab/ross-levine" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Dr. Ross Levine</a>, has joined our MPN Research Initiative as a research collaborator.
As with our other research communities, reaching a recruitment goal isn’t just about a number: It is about creating patient-powered research that allows participants to leverage their data and make a contribution to hastening discoveries about the causes and treatments for diseases.
We’ve already made some promising findings, including a novel finding that we’ll report in November at the 62nd annual American Society of Human Genetics meeting being held in San Francisco. 
23andMe researchers replicated an association between an inherited variation in the JAK2 gene and rare blood cancers linked to another JAK2 mutation that can appear later in life. To see more go to “Rapid replication of research in MPN” on our research findings page.
Encouraged by the results, 23andMe’s Dr. Kim Barnholt, the project manager of our MPN research community, had a message for all the people who’ve joined us to participate in the research.
“Thank you for your support and help to move this research forward at such an accelerated speed,” Kim said. “We are in the final days of study recruitment so please help spread the word to anyone who might be interested in this free genotyping and research opportunity before the enrollment period ends.”
This week Kim also shared the news about Dr. Levine.
A leading MPN physician-scientist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Dr. Levine researches the genetic basis of certain types of blood cancers, focusing primarily on the role of genetic variants involved in the development of MPNs and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
As a fellow working with Gary Gilliland at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Levine played a critical role in identifying the  JAK2 V617F and other molecular abnormalities in patients with MPNs. His work in this area facilitated the development of the first FDA-approved drug to treat MPNs. Dr. Levine joins our current panel of MPN experts, including Dr. Jason Gotlib, Dr. James Zehnder, and Dr. Ruben Mesa, in a collaborative effort to guide the research discovery process and future project directions.
Stay tuned for many important research announcements throughout the fall, including updates on surveys, information about new research findings, and opportunities for more ways to get involved. As always, we are grateful for your partnership in this work and look forward to continuing with you on this journey.
&#8211;<a href="http://www.mskcc.org/research/lab/ross-levine/work"> An interview with Dr. Levine</a>

Fighting Rare Blood Cancers

Soon children will be filling their backpacks with new notebooks and pencils and piling into yellow school buses.   Even if your school days are long past, you need not be left behind.
Learning is life-long, and you can continue your education using 23andMe&#8217;s short animated guides to human prehistory.
Distributed on-line both on our website (just the first three videos) and at the <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Khan Academy</a> (all five videos), watching these free educational videos couldn&#8217;t be easier.
To learn a little more about genetics you don&#8217;t even need to get on a bus, just your computer.  It is time to go back-to-school!
To take the 23andMe course in Human Prehistory 101, watch the following five videos below. This is the first of three educational courses we&#8217;ll be posting in honor of the &#8220;Back-to-School&#8221; season.
You can check how well you really were paying attention by trying our &#8220;quiz&#8221; after the videos (and you stand a chance of winning a $25 Amazon Gift Card).   We&#8217;ll be announcing the correct answers and the winner of the contest on Wednesday, September 5th. Upon completion, you can take pride in your new knowledge by printing out a certificate that signifies your new human prehistory expert status!

<table id="movies" border="1" width="603" cellspacing="10" cellpadding="20">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 15px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-15085 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Prologue-300x235.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="235" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Prologue-300x235.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Prologue.jpg 542w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></td>
<td style="padding: 15px;">
<h3>Prologue</h3>
Description: 
This <a href="https://youtu.be/Mm-IxK1GrYE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first video</a> sets the stage. You&#8217;ll learn about our ancestors and evolutionary cousins &#8212; who they were and how they lived.
 Time: 
4 min 41 sec</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 15px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-15124 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Part11-300x228.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="228" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Part11-300x228.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Part11.jpg 603w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></td>
<td style="padding: 15px;">
<h3>Part 1: Out of (Eastern) Africa</h3>
Description: 
In this<a href="https://youtu.be/8183HPmA2_I" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> second video</a> learn about the birthplace of humanity &#8212; Africa &#8212; and why non-Africans may be descended from as few as 100 travelers.
 Time: 
5 min 35 sec</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 15px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-15092 alignleft" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Part2-300x232.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="232" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Part2-300x232.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Part2.jpg 586w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></td>
<td style="padding: 15px;">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Part 2: Weathering the Storm</h3>
Description: 
Hot weather got your down?   This <a href="https://youtu.be/T9Nw66RCMhg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">third video</a> is sure to cool you off.
 Time: 
3 min 25 sec</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 15px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-15093 aligncenter" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Part3-300x211.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="211" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Part3-300x211.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Part3.jpg 736w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></td>
<td style="padding: 15px;">
<h3>Part 3: Agriculture Rocks Our World</h3>
Description: 
In this <a href="https://youtu.be/IVHD9wGlbho" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fourth video</a> you learn about how agriculture not only changed our diets but also many social aspects of human society.
 Time: 
7 min 00 sec</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 15px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-15094 aligncenter" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Epilogue-300x202.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="202" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Epilogue-300x202.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Epilogue.jpg 732w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></td>
<td style="padding: 15px;">
<h3>Epilogue</h3>
Description: 
This <a href="https://youtu.be/F-zRXHAo4-U" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">last video</a> tells the story of how humankind is being reunited.
 Time: 
2 min 45 sec</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Update: This quiz is officially over! <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/human-prehistory-101-results">Check out the answers here.</a> 
<div style="border: 1px solid #000; padding: 5px; font-style: italic; margin: 15px; width: 550px; float: center;">
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-12163" style="float: left; margin-right: 15px;" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/JRBgdIBXKIeVIdETJrxYIw_ttam_logo.jpg" alt="" width="24" height="40" />You have now completed the entire 23andMe Human Prehistory course, the first in a three-part Back-to-School educational course series! Click on the certificate below get a larger image which you can print out and display it with pride.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-15149 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PreHistoryPostCertificate-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PreHistoryPostCertificate-300x199.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PreHistoryPostCertificate-768x509.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PreHistoryPostCertificate.jpg 852w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Want to continue your education? You can learn about <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">your self from both a health and ancestry perspective </a> on 23andMe. Not yet a customer? Visit our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store/cart/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">store</a>.
</div>

Latest Posts — Page 147