<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-13489 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/FatherBikeKid.jpg" alt="" width="416" height="288" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/FatherBikeKid.jpg 416w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/FatherBikeKid-300x208.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 416px) 100vw, 416px" />
You claim that Junior is giving you gray hairs, but is he really? In actuality your kids may be adding years to your life &#8212; one recent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21946940">study</a> suggests that fatherhood may actually reduce a man’s risk of dying from a heart attack.
The study, which was conducted last year and led by Michael Eisenberg at Stanford and Mark Pletcher at the University of California, San Francisco, addresses the relationship between heart health and fatherhood. Nearly 138,000 men between the ages of 50 and 71 participated in the study, which used data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, a national survey in retired persons. Only men free of heart disease and stroke at the beginning of the study were included, and the heart health of these individuals was followed for over ten years, on average. After adjusting for income, education, health habits, and age, men without children died from heart disease 17% more frequently than men who were fathers.

One possible explanation for this heart health discrepancy is a difference in testosterone production. Studies have shown that low levels of androgen hormones, such as testosterone, result in both a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and for infertility. The correlation between lower testosterone and infertility may partially explain the higher rate of cardiovascular death observed in childless men.
Eisenberg and Pletcher did not take into account the fertility of the women in these families (male infertility accounts for about half of infertility cases in couples) nor did they take into account the many fertile couples who did not wish to have children. Fatherhood is, therefore, far from a perfect proxy for male fertility.  Furthermore, the theory that testosterone deficiency underlies both infertility and heart disease just a theory, and some older research suggested that very high testosterone levels also increase a man’s risk for heart disease.  Another biological or social factor may, in actuality, be the underlying source of the correlation.  More research is needed to better understand the link between heart health and fatherhood.
So, Dads, next time you’re on diaper duty, don’t think of the sacrifices you are making for your children; think instead of the great health benefits you may be reaping for yourself. Let your children bring joy to your heart.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Ah, Fatherhood — Dirty Diapers, Skinned Knees … and Healthier Hearts?

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-13497" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/FathersDayImage.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="300" />
There is no one quite like Dad. Dad is the story-book-reader, the scraped-knee-healer, and the piggy-back-ride hero of childhood. And even though no one is exactly like Dad, there is someone who is at least partially like him: you. In addition to the piggy-back rides, your father also gave you half of his DNA.  As the <a href="http://www.menshealthmonth.org/week/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Men’s Health Week </a>begins, thank your dad, as you wouldn’t be you without him.

<a href="http://www.menshealthmonth.org/week/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> </a>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-13488 size-thumbnail" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/NationalMensHealthWeek-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/NationalMensHealthWeek-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/NationalMensHealthWeek-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/NationalMensHealthWeek-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/NationalMensHealthWeek-574x574.jpg 574w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
<div style="border: 1px solid #000; padding: 5px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 15px; width: 400px; float: right; margin-left: 15px;">
<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" /> Male 23andMe customers can learn more about their paternal line (the ancestry inferred from their Y-chromosome) here:
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<li><a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/haplogroup/paternal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paternal Ancestry</a></li>
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Not yet a customer? Visit our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store/cart/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">store</a> or <a href="https://www.23andme.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">learn more</a>.
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-13515" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/FathersDayBanner-1024x69.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="55" />

Happy Father’s Day! Celebrate Your DNA From Dad!

<img decoding="async" class="alignright size-large wp-image-13569" title="threedegrees_wtitlelegend" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/threedegrees_wtitlelegend-1024x400.png" alt="" width="625" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/threedegrees_wtitlelegend-1024x400.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/threedegrees_wtitlelegend-300x117.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/threedegrees_wtitlelegend-768x300.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/threedegrees_wtitlelegend-880x344.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/threedegrees_wtitlelegend-1180x461.png 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />(Click to enlarge)
While the PBS series <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/">Finding Your Roots</a> made only passing reference to connections between guests, the truth is that each guest is genetically separated from other guests by at most three degrees.
<h2>Interconnections</h2>
The graph above shows a simplified view of just some of the connections between guests on Finding Your Roots. We’ve cut out most of the interconnections because otherwise, it would look like an unintelligible ball of yarn.
In actuality, every guest is connected to every other guest, and in fact, any two people who have been genotyped by 23andMe&#8217;s <a href="https://www.23andme.com/">Personal Genome Service</a> can be connected to each other &#8212; or to a Finding Your Roots guest &#8212; through one or two 4th or closer cousins.
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-12163" title="small_23andMe_logo" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/JRBgdIBXKIeVIdETJrxYIw_ttam_logo.jpg" alt="" width="24" height="40" />
The connections in the graph reflect 23andMe Relative Finder matches between individuals, which are based on segments of shared identical DNA. <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/relfinder/">Check out your own Relative Finder</a> to see who you’re related to in 23andMe’s database.
Not yet a member? <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store/">Check out our store!</a>
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<h2>Harry Connick Jr. to Robert Downey Jr.</h2>
By tracing paths through related individuals in 23andMe’s database, we learn that Harry Connick Jr., Robert Downey Jr., and Barbara Walters are all direct cousins, that Martha Stewart and Samuel L. Jackson have a mutual cousin, and that Condoleeza Rice, Cory Booker, and Geoffrey Canada each share a mutual cousin with Kevin Bacon.
This concept of &#8220;three degrees of genetic separation&#8221; results from increased human migration across the globe. Over the last 500 years, as people from different geographic regions traveled and mixed, the genetic distances between people also shrank. Go back in time, and the corresponding distances between two people may have been more like eight or nine genetic degrees.
From the graph, we can see that Angela Buchdahl represents a genetic &#8220;bridge&#8221; between her Korean and Ashkenazi Jewish heritages, linking people like Margaret Cho to Barbara Walters. Barbara Walters must have also had many ancestors that spanned different regions and populations, as she represents common links between Angela Buchdahl, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Downey, Jr., and Harry Connick, Jr.

Three Degrees of Genetic Separation

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-13549" title="ancestry dashboard" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ancestry-dashboard-265x300.jpg" alt="" width="265" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ancestry-dashboard-265x300.jpg 265w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ancestry-dashboard.jpg 422w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 265px) 100vw, 265px" />
Over the next three days, a crack team from 23andMe will be at the annual<a href="http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/Jamboree/2012jam-home.htm"> Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree</a> in Burbank, to inject even more fun into the event while also offering tips on using genetics in genealogical searches.
Most exciting for us is that the team is offering a sneak peek to a host of cool new ancestry features that we’ll be launching in a test format in the coming weeks. We’ll be signing up attendees at the conference to do beta testing of the new features as we make them ready for a broader release in the near future.
But you can get a look at what’s to come here.
The first thing that will change is how we surface the collection of ancestry tools we offer users. Now when you click on My Ancestry Page, you’ll get a dashboard summary giving you a quick overview of things like your overall maternal and paternal line ancestry, a summary of recent changes to your Relative Finder matches and sometimes hard-to-find ancestry gems.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-13551 size-medium" title="Ancestry Painting" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Ancestry-Painting-232x300.jpg" alt="" width="232" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Ancestry-Painting-232x300.jpg 232w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Ancestry-Painting-768x994.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Ancestry-Painting-791x1024.jpg 791w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Ancestry-Painting-680x880.jpg 680w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Ancestry-Painting-911x1180.jpg 911w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Ancestry-Painting.jpg 1275w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px" />
To dig deeper into your ancestry, a few of our scientists have overhauled the Ancestry Painting V2 analysis, which we believe is the most accurate breakdown of your genetic ancestry now being offered anywhere. Previously we “painted” individuals ancestry by displaying their Asian, African and European ancestry. Our Ancestry Painting will soon draw from approximately 20 different world regions, creating much finer detail of your genetic ancestry and break down European ancestry and differentiate between Native American and Asian ancestry. Here’s an example of the results from our friend Harvard Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who is also the host of the recent 10-part PBS series Finding Your Roots.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-13552 size-medium" title="Relative Finder Map View" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Relative-Finder-Map-View-232x300.jpg" alt="" width="232" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Relative-Finder-Map-View-232x300.jpg 232w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Relative-Finder-Map-View-768x994.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Relative-Finder-Map-View-791x1024.jpg 791w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Relative-Finder-Map-View-680x880.jpg 680w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Relative-Finder-Map-View-911x1180.jpg 911w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Relative-Finder-Map-View.jpg 1275w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px" />
Another enhancement includes a turbo charged upgrade of how results are displayed in our popular Relative Finder tool. A new Relative Finder Geographic Map View offers you the chance to display your matches on a world map. This can be incredibly helpful for anyone on a genealogical hunt who must triangulate between multiple different sources of information about their ancestry. In this case we show how your relatives cluster on a world map, which in turn can help you target your search for relatives.
Finally, we’ve added another essential tool for those interested in ancestry with a new Family Tree.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-13553 size-medium" title="Family Tree" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Family-Tree-232x300.jpg" alt="" width="232" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Family-Tree-232x300.jpg 232w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Family-Tree-768x994.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Family-Tree-791x1024.jpg 791w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Family-Tree-680x880.jpg 680w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Family-Tree-911x1180.jpg 911w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Family-Tree.jpg 1275w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px" />
The beauty of this the new tree is that it offers a easy to use and intuitive way to store a profusion of family history. For those who use other ancestry services, they can import their GEDCOM data into 23andMe’s new family tree tool.  You’ll be able to enter into the Family Tree relevant dates, life events, professions and other data.
We believe that these new features and enhancements will be both helpful and fun in your exploration into your own ancestry with 23andMe. Stay tuned for the release and if you’re in Burbank this weekend drop by our booth (#706 and #707).

A Sneak Peek at 23andMe’s New Ancestry Features

The American Society of Clinical Oncology recently wrapped up its annual meeting, bringing together health care professionals focused on the fight against cancer.
The five days were packed with mind-expanding science and encouraging updates on new efforts for research collaboration between doctors, scientists, advocates, and, most importantly, patients themselves.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-13533 size-full" title="ASCO-2012-23andme-FINAL-poster-2012" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ASCO-2012-23andme-FINAL-poster-2012.jpg" alt="" width="1651" height="1275" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ASCO-2012-23andme-FINAL-poster-2012.jpg 1651w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ASCO-2012-23andme-FINAL-poster-2012-300x232.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ASCO-2012-23andme-FINAL-poster-2012-768x593.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ASCO-2012-23andme-FINAL-poster-2012-1024x791.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ASCO-2012-23andme-FINAL-poster-2012-880x680.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ASCO-2012-23andme-FINAL-poster-2012-1180x911.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1651px) 100vw, 1651px" />
<h6>Sarcoma Research</h6>
23andMe’s Dr. Kim Barnholt, the project manager for both our<a href="https://www.23andme.com/sarcoma/"> Sarcoma</a> and<a href="https://www.23andme.com/mpn/"> Myeloproliferative Neoplasms</a> (MPN) research communities, got to present some of the highlights of<a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ASCO-2012-23andme-FINAL-poster-2012.pdf"> 23andMe’s work on sarcoma</a>, which is all about collaboration.
But the conference also allowed members of our MPN and Sarcoma Advisory Panels to talk about some of their latest work, bringing home how lucky we are to have them working with us. They all have impeccable standing in the community of oncologists and cancer researchers.
<h6>Online Communities</h6>
One of the highlights of the whole conference was Dr. Demetri’s talk on the “Dynamics of Partnerships between Professionals and Patient Online Communities to Accelerate Clinical Research and Improve Care.” For 23andMe, the theme is at the heart of what we call our “research revolution.”
Dr. Demetri, who is a charismatic forward thinker, talked about how “interactive social networking models offer great potential to increase meaningful partnerships between patients, caregivers, family and friends, and health care professionals.”
Dr. Demetri used 23andMe’s Sarcoma Research Initiative as an important example of crowdsourcing that integrates the patient’s experience and voice into research and clinical care.
<h6>Patient Centered</h6>
This also got to another theme of the conference that marks a change from the old approach to medicine involving a one-way line of communication from doctor down to patient. Clearly this approach is no longer acceptable, and the conference highlighted how online tools and social media have helped to change that dynamic as well as offer new opportunities for collaboration.
“This type of research could not be done in traditional ways,” Dr. Demetri said.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-9055 size-full" title="sarcoma image" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/sarcoma-image1.jpg" alt="" width="315" height="257" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/sarcoma-image1.jpg 315w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/sarcoma-image1-300x245.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 315px) 100vw, 315px" />
Demetri, whose work on our advisory board is unpaid, said the research model pioneered by 23andMe, “can be extrapolated to (the study of) other common diseases as molecular profiling divides all cancers into subsets of rare diseases.”
We think so too and are encouraged by the progress and promise our research communities can offer.
We look forward to sharing even more of our findings as our research initiatives progress.

Fighting Cancer Together

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-13464" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/thumbnail-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/thumbnail-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/thumbnail-768x513.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/thumbnail-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/thumbnail-880x588.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/thumbnail-1180x789.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
(Editor&#8217;s note: This post originally ran in June, but we thought it was worth a second look on the eve of the election.) 
As Americans approach the elections this November, discussions of what influences economic and political preferences will surely flood our television sets and news feeds. Pundits use factors like income, gender, and education level to make predictions on how people will vote.
<h6>Genetics and Politics</h6>
But do they ever consider genetics in making their predictions?  Probably not. A new study, however, suggests that such preferences may indeed be influenced by our genetic makeup.
Led by Daniel Benjamin of Cornell University and Peter Visscher of the University of Queensland a team of researchers studied 3,200 individuals for four traits believed to influence economic preferences (risk-aversion, patience, trust, and fair-mindedness), as well as five categories of political preferences (immigration/crime, economic policy, environmentalism, feminism/equality, and foreign policy). Each individual’s preferences in these areas were determined using an extensive survey. The results of the study were published in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/109/21/8026.long">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a> in May.
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Technical note:
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/quiz-answers-heritability-demystified/">Heritability</a> is a common measure of the average influence genetics has on a trait relative to other, non-genetic influences in a population.The heritability of a trait can range from zero (variance in the trait is independent of genetics) to one (variance in the trait completely explained by genetics). Heritability is often estimated using using twin studies; if identical twins are, on average, more similar than fraternal twins in a given trait, this increase in similarity is attributed to shared genetics.
The Visscher team, however, used a newer method for estimating heritability that relies on the genetically-determined relatedness of study subjects, which is potentially more accurate. The heritability estimates generated by this method were noisy, but three of the nine traits had statistically-significant heritability estimates: trust (heritability = 24%, p-value = 0.05), foreign policy (heritability = 35%, p-value = 0.01), and economic policy (heritability = 34%, p-value = 0.01). Despite the noisiness, the heritability estimates are not inconsistent with earlier findings from twin-designed studies (after for accounting for the biases in the two estimation methods).
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<h6>Trust and Economic Policy</h6>
Before asking which genes are involved, we have to ask: are genes involved in economic and political preference, or are these preferences solely determined by environmental factors, such as family and friends? Three of the nine traits Benjamin and Visscher’s team analyzed appeared to be heritable to some extent &#8212; trust, foreign policy, and economic policy &#8212; which is consistent with previous studies.
Although Visscher and his fellow researchers were able to establish that genetics likely influences some aspects of our economic and political preferences, they were not able to determine which genes or genetic variants may be involved.
<h6>Many Genes</h6>
Visscher and his co-workers conclude that economic and political preferences are, most likely, influenced by many different genes, each affecting these traits in very small ways. In order to capture such small effects, much larger sample sizes are needed. Thus, economic and political preferences, along with the canonical examples of height and schizophrenia, fall into a group of very complex traits that are heritable but for which we may never find one single gene as the “smoking gun.”
If you’re voting in today’s primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, or South Dakota, it’s likely that genetic influences are with you in the voting booth. Which genes are involved in economic and political preferences, however, remains to be discovered. Perhaps by the 2016 election we’ll better understand the genetics of politics.

Elephants Are Red, Donkeys Are Blue, Genetics Can Influence Politics, Too

Check out <a title="Three Degrees of Genetic Separation" href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry-2/three-genetic-degrees-of-separation/">this post</a> for an illustration of the three degrees of separation between guests on Finding Your Roots.
When we learn about our ancestors, who they were, and where they came from, the discoveries become part of how we define ourselves and understand ourselves as unique. The PBS series Finding Your Roots has taken this further, showing us how much we share with others and how interconnected our stories are.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-13441" title="MikeandSkpforBlog" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MikeandSkpforBlog-300x250.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="250" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MikeandSkpforBlog-300x250.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MikeandSkpforBlog.jpg 393w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />23andMe Scientist Mike Macpherson going over connections between guests with Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and a Finding Your Roots producer.
<h2>Finding Your Roots</h2>
This has been a theme of the 10-part series, something that the show’s host, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has repeatedly repeated—that despite our differences, whether racial or cultural, Americans are more interconnected than we know.
It isn’t just that our stories share parallels but that the connections run deep and can be seen in our DNA. It’s ironic that as the world’s population has grown exponentially in the last 500 years – from about half a billion to now seven billion – we are closer and more connected.
During the show&#8217;s filming, Professor Gates visited 23andMe and talked to scientists Mike Macpherson and Joanna Mountain, both of whom served as consultants.
<h2>Connecting People</h2>
At one point, Macpherson taped up photographs of the roughly two dozen guests who appeared in Finding Your Roots. Then, he sketched out the genetic connections that linked this seemingly random collection of people.
This was the first time someone demonstrated the genetic connectivity of any two people on Earth. Macpherson made some surprising links that connected, for example, Martha Stewart to Samuel L. Jackson and Barbara Walters to the Imam Yasir Qadhi.
Unlike previous examples that relied on social connections – friends of friends of friends – this connection is through cousins matched within 23andMe&#8217;s database of over 150,000 people.
<h2>Social Connections versus Genetic Ones</h2>
This wasn’t just a parlor game. Indeed, Stanley Milgram first wrote about the notion that any two people—a cop in New York and a street vendor in Mumbai, say—could be connected through five other people based on experiments he conducted in the late 1960s. It’s a little more complicated than Milgram theorized, but he got the gist right.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13443" title="MikeInterconnection" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MikeInterconnection.jpg" alt="" width="414" height="167" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MikeInterconnection.jpg 414w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MikeInterconnection-300x121.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px" />23andMe scientist Mike Macpherson sketching connections between the guests on Finding Your Roots as Prof. Gates looks on.
These previous theories of connectivity focused on social connections, the idea that we are all – all seven billion of us – linked to each other by six degrees of separation.
This connectivity theory even spawned a game named after one of Gates’ guests,  <a href="http://oracleofbacon.org/">“Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”</a> The game links any actor to Kevin Bacon by five other performers. Bacon – whose wife Kyra Sedgewick was also on the show – said for a long time he<a href="http://www.nbcchicago.com/video/#%21/news/business/Kevin-Bacon-Explains-Six-Degrees-Story/131838958"> hated that his name was the punchline for a joke</a>. But he has since embraced it and is using the idea of social connections <a href="http://www.sixdegrees.org/">to link people to worthy causes</a>.
More recently, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/technology/between-you-and-me-4-74-degrees.html?_r=3&amp;scp=1&amp;sq=4.74&amp;st=cse">Facebook</a> and LinkedIn have shown that just four “connections” could link any two people together.
Macpherson connected the Finding Your Roots guests via a much shorter genetic chain. Any two people are connected through just one or two other individuals.
<h2>Why is this a revelation?</h2>
It’s new because this isn’t the notion that you are connected to someone else because of who you know. It’s the notion that you are connected to someone because of who you are related to.
This is a manifestation of human history and human migration over the last 500 years. 
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F-zRXHAo4-U" width="420" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe>
People are no longer isolated by geography and so the differences between people are smaller than in the past .
Perhaps in no other place has the convergence of people of different cultures and histories been as dramatic as the Americas. And while the clash of cultures and histories has been both painful and brutal at times, it is what forged our history more than anything else, Gates argues.
“I’ve always thought that it was that story of America,” said political commentator Linda Chavez in the last episode in the series.
People came here from all over the world, some voluntary and some involuntary, and mixed, she said, “and that’s made us stronger.”
This post by 23andMe Content Editor Scott Hadly and 23andMe Senior Director of Research Joanna Mountain first appeared last week on <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PBS&#8217;s Finding Your Roots website</a>. It was one of a series of posts by 23andMe. Dr. Mountain was a consultant for the the 10-part series.

Make That Three Degrees of Separation

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13429" title="ASCO image" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/ASCO-image.jpg" alt="" width="557" height="102" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/ASCO-image.jpg 557w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/ASCO-image-300x55.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px" />
Starting today cancer researchers will be gathering in Chicago at the meeting of the<a href="http://www.asco.org/"> American Society of Clinical Oncology</a>.
Researchers and doctors at the annual meeting – the world’s largest oncology conference – will hear about the most promising drugs being developed to fight cancer. They’ll spend five days learning about the new science around a vast array of cancers, and discuss the newest therapies as well as the latest and most innovative clinical trials. They’ll wrestle with broader issues on ethics and hunt out presentations about the most successful cancer prevention.
But this year we hope that a few will also take notice of a new approach to cancer research being pioneered by 23andMe.
Along with our scientific advisors – who include <a href="http://doctors.dana-farber.org/directory/profile.asp?dbase=main&amp;setsize=16&amp;pgt=George+D%2E+Demetri%2C+MD&amp;picture_id=0000273&amp;grouptype_typeid_data=1&amp;gs=c&amp;nxtfmt=r&amp;display=Y&amp;lookup=Y&amp;oldurl=Y&amp;pict_id=0000273">Drs. George Demetri</a>, Robert Maki, Judy Garber, and Mark Robson, – our very own Dr. Kim Barnholt, the Research Project Manager for both our<a href="https://www.23andme.com/sarcoma/"> Sarcoma</a> and<a href="https://www.23andme.com/mpn/"> Myeloproliferative Neoplasms</a> (MPN) research communities, is attending. Kim will be presenting some of the highlights of our 23andMe’s work on sarcoma.
We’ve been able to recruit almost 1,000 people with these cancers that develop in bone and soft tissue, making our sarcoma research cohort one of the world’s largest. Sarcoma, which strikes about 14,000 people each year, is not one kind of cancer, but many different ones.
The complexity of what turns out to be dozens of subtypes of sarcomas makes treating and studying them difficult. But using web-based tools allows for both quick recruitment and efficient large-scale genome-wide studies of the disease. It also gives people with sarcoma, who might be geographically isolated or far away from cancer research centers, or too sick to travel, an easier way to participate in research.
Kim is most encouraged by the engagement of the community with more than 80 percent of participants having completed important surveys. &nbsp;Last summer, she put together an<a href="https://www.23andme.com/sarcoma/videos/"> evening gathering</a> for the community giving patients a chance to directly interact with her and other scientists at 23andMe, as well as with sarcoma researchers and advocates.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-6395 size-full" title="sarcoma-large" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/sarcoma-large.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="289" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/sarcoma-large.jpg 350w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/sarcoma-large-300x248.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" />
“It’s important for researchers to meet patients,” Kim said recently. “It gives more meaning to what we do. There’s more than just numbers in research. Understanding the personal stories and each person’s journey gives what we do more relevance and meaning, but it also gives us a better picture of the disease. It all goes back to the quality of measurement in research. If you can talk and interact with patients and they have a voice and that is part of the data collection, it improves the what we do. I know it does for my work.”
Kim plans to present some preliminary data in Chicago and report back over the next few days on some of the most interesting presentations.

23andMe at Oncology Conference

During the series <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.</a> &nbsp; on PBS, The Blog &nbsp; featured posts from 23andMe’s Ancestry Ambassadors. This is the last of their own stories about using DNA to dig into ancestry.
By Tim Janzen, M.D.
For over 30 years I have been trying to determine the ancestry of my great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Youngman (b. ca Aug 1823, d. 24 May 1903).
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-13392 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Jacob-Youngman-214x300.jpg" alt="" width="214" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Jacob-Youngman-214x300.jpg 214w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Jacob-Youngman.jpg 353w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px" />Jacob Youngman 
I used traditional genealogical research techniques for much of that time, but not long ago I realized that DNA testing at 23andMe could help me solve this decades old puzzle. No one in our family knew who Jacob Youngman’s parents were, but his son Charles Youngman (b. 1872) left a tantalizing clue in his autobiographical sketch that was published in the book &#8220;History of Harrison County, Missouri.&#8221;
Charles Youngman said that Jacob Youngman&#8217;s father &nbsp;lived in &nbsp;Kentucky, &nbsp;moved first to Indiana, and later settled in central Missouri where he died. &nbsp; Not too many Youngmans fit this description. In the past two years, I have developed a theory that Jacob Youngman’s father was John Youngman (b. ca 1793), who is listed in the 1840 Census in Clay County, Missouri but is not listed there in the 1850 Census.
I know that my ancestor Jacob Youngman is listed in Shelby Co., Indiana in the 1850 Census but the man I presume to be his father, John Youngman isn’t. &nbsp; Instead, I recently discovered that John Youngman didn&#8217;t die prior to 1850, but instead moved to Denton Co., Texas where he is listed in the 1850 Census with his younger children.
This genealogical puzzle is 
complicated by the fact that John Youngman was married 3 &nbsp;times and was divorced from his second wife Elizabeth Reeves, his first wife had apparently died by 1822.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-13394 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Youngman-graveston1-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Youngman-graveston1-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Youngman-graveston1.jpg 461w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photograph of the gravestone of Jacob Youngman (b. ca Aug 1823) and his second wife Rachel Cart.
Census records from 1820, 1830, and 1840 indicate that he had children by all three wives, but only his 5 youngest children who were living with him in 1850 are named in the census records.
Another clue is that Jacob Youngman’s granddaughter Louise Youngman (1893-1988) said that her grandfather often referred to “Uncle Stacy Reeves”, suggesting that Jacob Youngman’s mother could have been Elizabeth Reeves, the second wife of John Youngman. &nbsp; A Stacy T. Reeves (b. ca 1823) is listed near Jacob Youngman and his family in the 1860 Census and may be the “Uncle Stacy Reeves” that Louise Youngman was referring to. By the fall of 2010 I had many promising hints, but I still hadn’t solved the puzzle and then I established contact with several other Youngman researchers, Debbi Youngman and Susie Brewer. Both are related to descendents of John Youngman by his first and third wives. I decided to pursue confirmation of my theory that Jacob Youngman was a son of John Youngman by his second wife Elizabeth Reeves through autosomal DNA testing done by 23andMe. Troy McCoy, a great-grandson of John Youngman and his third wife, was the person most closely related to John Youngman who was tested. &nbsp; Below is a summary of the DNA data showing the amount of autosomal DNA in centimorgans (cMs) that Troy McCoy shares in common with each of the five great-grandchildren of Jacob Youngman who have been tested by 23andMe. &nbsp; The comparison between Troy McCoy and Jacob Youngman’s great-grandchildren is the most important because in theory they should share the most autosomal DNA in common since they are the most closely related among all of the Youngman descendents in the project. &nbsp; A centimorgan is a unit of crossover frequency used to measure how often DNA segments are split up by recombination as they pass through the generations. The proper way to analyze this data is to create an average of the amount of DNA shared between Troy McCoy and Jacob Youngman’s five great-grandchildren. (See table 1.)
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 275px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
John Youngman and Family Reconstructed
John Youngman (b. ca 1793 in Kentucky) married his first wife Elizabeth Marton (b. ca 1798 in Kentucky) on 23 Feb 1816 in Campbell Co., Kentucky. Elizabeth Marton appears to have died ca 1821. John and Elizabeth had three children: 
1. John M. Youngman (b. 10 Jan 1818 in Kentucky) 
2. William Youngman (b. ca 1818 in Kentucky) 
3. Susanna Youngman (b. ca 1821 in Kentucky)
John Youngman (b. ca 1793) married his second wife Elizabeth Reeves (b. ca 1802 in Kentucky) on 20 Jul 1822 in Campbell Co., Kentucky. They were divorced on 29 Apr 1830. They had two children: 
1. Jacob Youngman (b. ca 1823, KY) 
2. Unknown female (b. ca 1825-30)
John Youngman (b. ca 1793) married his third wife Priscilla Clark on 10 Jun 1830 in Clermont Co., Ohio. They had seven children: 
1. Sarah A. Youngman (b. ca 1830, IN) 
2. Nancy Catherine Youngman (b. ca 1832,IN) 
3. James C. Youngman (b. ca 1835, IN) 
4. Mary Jane Youngman (b. 1835, IN) 
5. Louhany Youngman (b. 1843, MO) 
6. Thomas Jefferson Youngman (b. 1844, AR) 
7. Joseph Youngman (b. ca 1844, AR)
</div>
It is reasonable to assume that all of the matching segments over 5 cMs in length came from a shared common ancestor. &nbsp; A threshold of around 4 to 5 cMs is necessary since it is common for random people of European ancestry to share segments that are less than 4 cMs in length even if they don’t have any ancestry in common in the past 300 years. We would expect that on average half third cousins should share about 27.8 cMs of DNA. &nbsp; The above averages support of &nbsp;my theory that Troy McCoy’s great-grandmother Mary Jane Youngman (b. ca 1836) was a half sibling to my great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Youngman (b. &nbsp;ca Aug &nbsp;1823).
It is reasonable to assume that all of the matching segments over 5 cMs in length came from a shared common ancestor. &nbsp; A threshold of around 4 to 5 cMs is necessary since it is common for random people of European ancestry to share segments that are less than 4 cMs in length even if they don’t have any ancestry in common in the past 300 years. We would expect that on average half third cousins should share about 27.8 cMs of DNA. &nbsp; The above averages support of &nbsp;my theory that Troy McCoy’s great-grandmother Mary Jane Youngman (b. ca 1836) was a half sibling to my great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Youngman (b. &nbsp;ca Aug &nbsp;1823).
A Stacy T. Reeves (b. ca 1823) is listed near Jacob Youngman and his family in the 1860 Census and may be the “Uncle Stacy Reeves” that Louise Youngman was referring to. By the fall of 2010 I had many promising hints, but I still hadn’t solved the puzzle and then I established contact with several other Youngman researchers, Debbi Youngman and Susie Brewer. Both are related to descendents of John Youngman by his first and third wives. I decided to pursue confirmation of my theory that Jacob Youngman was a son of John Youngman by his second wife Elizabeth Reeves through autosomal DNA testing done by 23andMe. Troy McCoy, a great-grandson of John Youngman and his third wife, was the person most closely related to John Youngman who was tested.
Below is a summary of the DNA data showing the amount of autosomal DNA in centimorgans (cMs) that Troy McCoy shares in common with each of the five great-grandchildren of Jacob Youngman who have been tested by 23andMe.
The comparison between Troy McCoy and Jacob Youngman’s great-grandchildren is the most important because in theory they should share the most autosomal DNA in common since they are the most closely related among all of the Youngman descendents in the project. &nbsp; A centimorgan is a unit of crossover frequency used to measure how often DNA segments are split up by recombination as they pass through the generations. The proper way to analyze this data is to create an average of the amount of DNA shared between Troy McCoy and Jacob Youngman’s five great-grandchildren. (See table 1.) &nbsp; It is reasonable to assume that all of the matching segments over 5 cMs in length came from a shared common ancestor. &nbsp; A threshold of around 4 to 5 cMs is necessary since it is common for random people of European ancestry to share segments that are less than 4 cMs in length even if they don’t have any ancestry in common in the past 300 years. We would expect that on average half third cousins should share about 27.8 cMs of DNA. &nbsp; The above averages support of &nbsp;my theory that Troy McCoy’s great-grandmother Mary Jane Youngman (b. ca 1836) was a half sibling to my great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Youngman (b. &nbsp;ca Aug &nbsp;1823).
It is reasonable to assume that all of the matching segments over 5 cMs in length came from a shared common ancestor. &nbsp; A threshold of around 4 to 5 cMs is necessary since it is common for random people of European ancestry to share segments that are less than 4 cMs in length even if they don’t have any ancestry in common in the past 300 years. We would expect that on average half third cousins should share about 27.8 cMs of DNA. &nbsp; The above averages support of &nbsp;my theory that Troy McCoy’s great-grandmother Mary Jane Youngman (b. ca 1836) was a half sibling to my great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Youngman (b. &nbsp;ca Aug &nbsp;1823).
<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Comparison</th>
<th>4 cM threshold</th>
<th>5 cM threshold</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Frederick Mock and his 1/2 3rd cousin Troy McCoy</td>
<td>16.2</td>
<td>12.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Raymond Youngman and his 1/2 3rd cousin Troy McCoy</td>
<td>5.1</td>
<td>5.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Marilyn Bannister and her 1/2 3rd cousin Troy McCoy</td>
<td>4.6</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Darryl Youngman and his 1/2 3rd cousin Troy McCoy</td>
<td>72.4</td>
<td>67.9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Norman Youngman and his 1/2 3rd cousin Troy McCoy</td>
<td>71.6</td>
<td>67.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Average:</td>
<td>34.0</td>
<td>30.5</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
*Expected amount if the relationship is a half 3rd cousin: 27.5 

But I didn’t stop there. I also found results that are very close to the expected average for a comparison like the one shown above between Troy McCoy and six great-great-grandchildren of Jacob Youngman. &nbsp; Thus the DNA data suggest that Mary Jane Youngman and Jacob Youngman were half-siblings based on these comparisons. &nbsp; I am likewise seeing results that are very close to the expected average for the comparisons between two descendants of William Youngman (b. ca 1818), John Youngman’s son by his first wife, and the descendants of Jacob Youngman. &nbsp; The DNA
The DNA data, therefore, suggest that William Youngman and Jacob Youngman were also half-siblings based on these comparisons. In summary, autosomal DNA analysis has provided the key evidence to solving the genealogical puzzle of the parentage of Jacob Youngman.
I now feel confident that Jacob Youngman was the son of John Youngman and Elizabeth Reeves. &nbsp; This project demonstrates how autosomal DNA can be used as an adjunct to traditional genealogical research to confirm or refute theories about possible genealogical relationships.
Tim Janzen is a family practice doctor at South Tabor Family Physicians in Portland, Oregon. His interest in genealogical research goes back 35 years and he has particularly focused on Mennonite genealogy for the past 15 years. He has a web site that summarizes many different sources available for Mennonite genealogical research found at <a href="http://www.timjanzen.com/">www.timjanzen.com</a> and has given many presentations about Mennonite genealogy in the United States and Canada. He is the co-administrator of the Mennonite DNA project at <a href="http://www.mennonitedna.com/">www.mennonitedna.com</a>. He also serves on the ISOGG Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree Committee. Tim is married to Rachel Janzen and they have four children.

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