Papa was a rolling stone. (His Y chromosome was anyway.)
The story of your paternal-line ancestry is the story of an extraordinary migration. Over 300,000 years and 10,000 generations, Dad’s male-line descendants have rolled over land and sea, hunted mammoths, created pottery, forged iron and survived an Ice Age. And today, the genetic voyage leads to the person reading this blog — you!
Through 23andMe&#8217;s new and improved <a href="https://you.23andme.com/reports/paternal_haplogroup/">Paternal Haplogroup report</a>, customers* can trace the footsteps of their paternal-line ancestors over thousands of generations of human history. And that should be music to the ears of anybody interested in their family’s unique history. 
<h6>What is a Paternal Haplogroup?</h6>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/male_line-300x214.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25625" width="300" height="214" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/male_line-300x214.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/male_line-768x548.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/male_line-1024x731.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/male_line-880x628.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/male_line-1180x842.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/male_line.png 1450w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />The most obvious artifact of your paternal ancestry may be your surname. But surnames are actually a pretty recent invention, and names change over time as records are rewritten or lost. For some cultures, even the concept of a paternal surname is foreign. 
Genetics offers another way to discover your paternal-line history that doesn&#8217;t depend on a paper trail. And it can tell a story that reaches back hundreds of thousands of years.
Each generation, fathers pass down copies of their Y chromosomes to their sons. So if you are a genetic male, you inherited your Y chromosome — and all the genetic markers it contains — from the unbroken line of men in your paternal lineage.
Alone, this doesn&#8217;t reveal that much about your heritage. But by comparing the genetic markers on Y chromosomes from men all over the world, researchers have built a genealogical tree of all paternal lineages. This tree reaches back more than 275,000 years to just one man who lived in East Africa: the most recent paternal-line common ancestor of all humans living today. 
Your paternal-line &#8220;haplogroup&#8221; describes how your lineage is related to all the others. Each haplogroup is a family of lines that descend from a common ancestor. In the Paternal Haplogroup tree, this is represented by a branch or a cluster of branches. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/paternal_hap_tree-300x176.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25627" width="300" height="176" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/paternal_hap_tree-300x176.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/paternal_hap_tree-768x450.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/paternal_hap_tree-1024x600.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/paternal_hap_tree-880x516.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/paternal_hap_tree-1180x692.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/paternal_hap_tree.png 1790w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
To trace your ancient paternal-line history, we can follow the path from the root of the tree out to your particular branch. And, just as you and a first cousin are connected through your grandparents, you and many others around the world are connected through the common ancestor of your haplogroup. 
If your lineage carries haplogroup R-M405, for example, you and King Henry IV of France can trace your paternal lines back to the father of haplogroup R-M405. 
<h6>Tracing the Migrations of Your Paternal-Line Ancestors</h6>
<div id="attachment_25626" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25626" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/hap_C_migrations-1024x432.png" alt="" class="wp-image-25626 size-large" width="1024" height="432" />Major migration routes of Haplogroup C-M130</div>
Researchers can discover the geographic origins and migrations of some of our paternal-line ancestors by comparing where different haplogroups are found around the world and how they are related to each other. All of our stories begin at the root of the haplogroup tree in eastern Africa. For over 200,000 years, our ancestors hunted ancient gazelle across the seas of grass and split into diverse groups within Africa. Then, sometime around sixty thousand years ago, one small group crossed the Red Sea and forged new paths across all of Eurasia.
In the new Paternal Haplogroup report, customers follow the major migration routes of their paternal lineage, branch by branch, over tens of thousands of years.
<h6>Ancient DNA Sheds New Light on Old Stories&#8230;<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/yamnaya_paternal-263x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25629" width="263" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/yamnaya_paternal-263x300.jpg 263w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/yamnaya_paternal.jpg 350w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 263px) 100vw, 263px" /></h6>
With major improvements in technology, geneticists are unraveling more of our ancestral mysteries. One prime example is the origin and spread of haplogroup R — the dominant paternal haplogroup in western Eurasia. In the early 2000s, the available evidence suggested that men bearing haplogroup R reached their prominence after surviving the last great peak of the Ice Age nearly 20,000 years ago.
But just in the last several years, researchers using  DNA extracted from the remains of men who lived in Central Asia and Europe thousands of years ago have connected the recent spread of haplogroup R to <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/02/thousands-horsemen-may-have-swept-bronze-age-europe-transforming-local-population">men who swept down from the steppes</a> only 5,000 years ago. 
These migrations began with an early Bronze-Age culture called the Yamnaya. They were herders, and needed to travel fast to keep their livestock fed. Atop the world&#8217;s first domesticated horses and armed with some of the earliest bronze tools and weapons, Yamnaya men spilled east into Central Asia and west into the Balkans. Their descendants eventually stretched from the British Isles to India.
In addition to their technology and paternal lines, the Yamnaya also brought their language. This language was the ancestor of the Indo-European language family, a group that includes 445 living languages spoken historically from the western tip of Europe to central and southern Asia.
<h6>&#8230;And New Stories Are Written</h6>
With the technology to <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/10/game-changing-study-suggests-first-polynesians-voyaged-all-way-east-asia">extract ancient DNA</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/almost-all-living-people-outside-africa-trace-back-single-migration-more-50000-years">sequence the entire human genome</a>, new doors are opening in the study of human population history and the pace of new discoveries about our ancestors is accelerating.
What&#8217;s more, researchers from all fields have a new set of tools: people like you. From professional genealogists to beginner hobbyists, individuals are researching their family histories and sharing data like never before.
As geneticists, genealogists, and citizen scientists work together to uncover new evidence and gain new insights, new details will be added to all of our ancestral stories. 
* Because genetic females do not have Y chromosomes, 23andMe is unable to directly determine the haplogroup of their paternal line. Female customers can, however, link accounts with a brother or father to receive their paternal haplogroup results.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

The Paternal-Line Story Written In Your DNA

<div id="attachment_25595" style="width: 294px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25595" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Fah-284x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25595 size-medium" width="284" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Fah-284x300.jpg 284w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Fah.jpg 346w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 284px) 100vw, 284px" />Fah getting ready for his trek to Everest base camp. Everest can be seen in the background.</div>
On vacation trekking the Himalayas with his partner, 23andMe computational biologist Fah Sathirapongsasuti didn’t just take snapshots of surrounding peaks, he also did a little science at 17,000 feet.
As he hoofed along the trail to Everest base camp, Fah recorded the toll of hiking at altitude took on his body, monitoring his heart rate, the oxygen saturation in his blood, the number of calories he burned, and his disrupted sleep patterns.
“There were a few days that I felt pretty miserable,” he said.
Collecting data on vacation might not be on the top of your trip itinerary, but Fah saw an opportunity. He saw a chance to record in real time and with real data, the impact of altitude on the human body. And, he thought if enough people like him recorded their data and pooled it together, perhaps he could learn something more about why some of us do better than others at higher elevations. (You can see morea about how he tracked his data <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/fah/science-little-altitude">here</a>, or look at the sidebar to learn more about how you could track your own data if you’re planning a trip to higher elevations.)
“I don’t think you need to be a geek or a scientist to enjoy collecting data during your vacation,” said Fah. “Our ability to adapt to foreign environments such as high altitude is a testament to the wonder of the human body. Quantifying it will help you see and appreciate your own body more.”

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 350px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
Fah&#8217;s DIY Altitude Science Field Guide 
I don’t think you need to be a geek or a scientist to enjoy collecting data during your vacation. Our ability to adapt to foreign environments such as high altitude is a testament to the wonder of the human body. Quantifying it will help you see and appreciate your body more. Plus, monitoring your blood oxygen level (SpO2) during high altitude trekking can literally save your life!
My data from Everest Base Camp Trekking can be found <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LQA3bKR-fcssExZcvDPMyKOgIzIgahPcjjP12krvqjY/edit?usp=sharing">here</a>. If you are planning a trip up the mountains, to elevations higher than 9,000 feet, I’ve outlined how you too can track this data.
What to track?
If you are traveling to a “very high altitude” — defined as anything higher than 11,500 ft (e.g. Mt Whitney, Machu Picchu, or Mount Kilimanjaro) — there are a few experiments you can try. 
I found that the oxygen saturation in my blood, now easily measured using a pulse oximeter that can be clipped to your finger and also tracks your pulse rate. 
The key here is to record at three consistent times each day:

<ol>
<li>On arrival at your resting point (e.g. campsite or , lodge)</li>
<li>Before bed</li>
<li>Morning, within the first hour after waking up</li>
</ol>
When recording the data, you should also make note of the elevation, and whether you have any symptoms of altitude sickness. For me, that amounted to nausea, dizziness, restless sleep and blurred vision.  Beyond those three key points of measuring your blood oxygen, you should also measure immediately after exertion, that could include hiking or climbing or skiing. Whatever you are doing at elevation that is physically taxing.  Record the exercise. Measure your heart rate and SpO2 immediate after exercise. Keep repeatedly measuring every 30 seconds after you’ve finished the “exercise” until your heart rate returns to normal. For me, this was instructive because I was able to see that I could recover even from the most strenuous exertions relatively quickly with a relatively  If you are going to a moderately high altitude location (4,900-11,500 ft), such as Aspen or Lake Tahoe, it is less likely that you will experience altitude sickness., But you may observe changes in your physiology especially during an exercise.  You might consider doing some strenuous exercise such as a sprint and measure your SpO2.  You might be surprised by how low it can get.
What You’ll Need 
Like any good experiment you’ll need a few things to ensure you can record good data. You&#8217;lld need a good pulse oximeter.  There are several brands.  The one I used is iHealth Air Pulse Oximeter available on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/iHealth-Pulse-Oximeter-Apple-Android/dp/B00D7MDXCU">Amazon</a>. In addition you&#8217;ll need a fitness tracker.  There are several acceptable, each with its own features and quirks.  I use Fitbit Charge HR, mostly for the balance between price and features.  Make sure it has continuous heart rate monitor and accelerometer (for steps and elevation gain estimate). 
</div>
Although we can acclimatize to exertion at elevation, some people adapt to life at higher altitudes better than others. Sherpas, the ethnic group that has lived for thousands of years in the Himalayas, have a genetic advantage for life in the thin oxygen air of their homelands. So do Tibetans. Their genetic advantage is something they inherited from our ancient human cousins, the<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7513/full/nature13408.html"> Denisovians</a>, more than 40,000 years ago. Variants in two genes EPAS1 and EGLN1 are prevalent in Tibetans. Among everyone else, it’s hard to predict who will be get sick at high elevations and who won’t. 
Most people know that climbing Everest is fraught with peril, but fewer know that just trekking to base camp can pose a danger due to altitude sickness. Although there aren&#8217;t accurate statistics on the number of trekkers hit by altitude sickness on the trail, a few die each year from what’s called Acute Mountain Sickness or underlying conditions that are exacerbated by exertion at altitude. But currently there is no good way to determine who might get sick and who won’t.
Fah and his partner were careful and prepared for their trek. Both of them are in shape, but even so they had days that were very difficult. Fah thought this was likely so he wanted to record the data to see how his body changed during the hike, and to see how it affected him differently than others.
“I know what I felt, but I wanted to see the data too,” he said.
There were some obvious data points. The higher Fah went, the lower the oxygen saturation in his blood.
“Duh,” he joked.
Although it wasn’t surprising, the data dramatically illustrated the impact of altitude. As Fah crossed the pass between Lobuche and Gorakshep at more than 16,000 feet, his oxygen saturation dropped below 80 percent, and his resting heart rate spiked upward. He got headaches, felt dizzy and his vision blurred. Fah slept less. None of that is atypical. In fact having your oxygen saturation drop below 80 percent for an extended period is very dangerous.
Over the week long trip, Fah slowly acclimatized to the higher elevations.  And his numbers got better, but in general, there was a direct correlation between how bad he felt and elevation gain. Beyond what he felt and what he was recording, Fah also knew that there are many studies <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/5197/chapter/24"> on this</a>.
Out of curiosity Fah also added one other data point, he measured the oxygen saturation of three of the Sherpas helping to ferry some of the supplies for the trekkers. On average their oxygen levels were three to five percentage points higher than Fah, and they were much more comfortable.
As Andrew Murry, a physiologist at the University of Cambridge in the UK <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/05/28/530204187/the-science-behind-the-super-abilities-of-sherpas">recently told NPR</a>:
“You don&#8217;t need to spend very long in that part of the world to see that the people living there, particularly the Sherpas, perform extremely well at altitude — a lot better than we do.&#8221;
Over time many of us can acclimate ourselves to exertions at higher altitudes, improving our blood oxygen saturation levels, for instance. And Fah was able to see how, even in the short time he was in Nepal, his body acclimated itself to the higher elevations.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Graph-SpO2-1024x612.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-25596 size-large" width="1024" height="612" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Graph-SpO2-1024x612.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Graph-SpO2-300x179.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Graph-SpO2-768x459.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Graph-SpO2-880x526.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Graph-SpO2-1180x705.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Graph-SpO2.png 1388w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Oxygen saturation (SpO2, gray line) decreased as the elevation (blue line) increased. Symptoms of altitude sickness such as headaches, blurry vision, and sleeplessness are common when SpO2 dropped below 80, between Day 5 and Day 8.
But even acclimatizing won’t entirely relieve the symptoms and it’s still difficult to predict why some people get sick, and altitudes and others do not. So Fah decided to invite others with plans to trek at elevation — 11,000 feet or higher — to record their data.
“The lesson I learn as a scientist at 23andMe is that crowd-sourcing can give us the power to make a discovery at an unprecedented rate and scale. Together we might be able to discover a way to predict and prevent altitude sickness,” he said.

Science With A Little Altitude

Annie was looking at a note from a woman she didn’t know. Someone she’d been searching for all her life. A woman named Harley, who just might be her biological mother.
<div id="attachment_25598" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25598" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25598 size-medium" height="300" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-1180x1180.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-980x980.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Harley, on the left, and Annie.</div>“I can’t wait to talk to you,” Harley told her in the email. “Here’s my phone number.”
Annie tried to describe what she was feeling at that moment.
“I’m freaking out,” she said. “I literally almost vomited on the floor.”
Annie’s story — and it’s a doozy — is set to air this week on a new podcast called My Gay Life.
The Seattle-based producers Rebecca Fernandez and Cyndi Butz-Houghton put the show together. Annie’s story, titled “Are you my mom?” is just the second episode, so the team has already set the bar pretty high.
Rebecca, who gave us the heads-up on Annie’s hour-long story, told us it made them all “laugh, cry and get goose bumps.” Not a bad review. We heard it, and all of us here were right there with the Kleenex and group hugs.
In Rebecca’s quick summary of the story, she said, “(It) features a 30-year-old lesbian who was reunited with her birth mother — partially in thanks to 23andMe.”
But the story is way way more than that.
It’s about Annie first coming out to her parents at 14. (Her father was like “Duh”, but her mom was a little surprised.) What it was like to grow up “hella gay, in a hella small town.” And the story is about Annie finally finding a solid relationship with her partner, Alejandra, and about building strong bonds with her adoptive family, as well as with Alejandra’s parents.<div id="attachment_25599" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25599" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25599 size-medium" height="300" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-1180x1180.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />A picture of Annie on the right as a teenager, next to a photo of her mother Harley as a teenager, on the left.</div>
Annie’s story is unique, but much of what she talks about will sound familiar to other adoptees, like growing up and being keenly aware that, unlike her friends, she didn’t look like her parents, or the fact that she didn’t have a family tree, or even a family medical history.Annie knew that she was born in a small town in Idaho and that she’d been handed over to her adoptive parents when she was just 12 hours old. That was the extent of what she knew of her birth. So what she carried her whole life were questions about her origins and the mother who gave her up for adoption.
But, as someone who had a wonderful, loving relationship with her adoptive parents, asking those questions brought up other uncomfortable issues. She didn’t ever want her parents to feel like her search meant that she felt they were in any way inadequate. Many adoptees express similar feelings. So much of her searching was internal. She thought about her biological mother more than she went out and searched for her.
“When you’re adopted and don’t know where you come from, or what your family looks like, you make up this vision,” said Annie.
For her, it was creating this “cookie cutter” version of a family with a mom who had the perfect hair, at home baking cookies.
The truth was a little different than that, Annie said. And after learning about everything, she felt she was fortunate that it took this long, because maybe earlier in her life she might not have been ready.Then this year after turning 30, Annie said she was finally feeling ready to answer the biggest question of her life:Where did I come from?
“My life was falling into place, so I decided I would start looking again,” Annie said. “I was at a point mentally that it was OK.”
Other things seemed to fall into place as well, and almost immediately after beginning her search, she started getting answers, first through a free search site for adoptees and then using 23andMe to confirm her connection. Within 24 hours, she connected with Harley, who shared photos.Right away some of the fantasies about her birth mother were set straight. Her birth mom had tattoos and worked in a bar. Annie, who has tattoos of her own, said the photo went counter to her idolized version of her birth mother, baking cookies at home.
“That was not what I was expecting,” Annie said.
At first, Annie didn’t even see the resemblance. She thought that once she talked to her birth mom, there would be this instant connection. That didn’t happen, but as they talked Annie felt drawn to her. And she heard for the first time the story of her birth. It was hard to hear.
Her birth mother was just 17 when she became pregnant. She ran away from home, but came back just before the birth. They told her that the baby would be adopted, so she asked her dad if she could at least see the baby after she was born. He said of course, but that’s not what happened. She never saw Annie. She didn’t even know if she had had a boy or a girl. Her parents had told her conflicting stories, even giving her wrong information to hide where Annie ended up.
Everything wasn’t cookie cutter and perfect for her birth mom. She had two more kids, two sons, who went to live with her sister and mother in Olympia, Washington. Harley spent some time in jail for a drug offense. One of the many twists in the story was that at one point, after being moved, Harley’s cellmate was one of Annie’s closest childhood friends.
Not long ago, Annie traveled to Sand Point, Idaho to meet her biological mother. She called it the “biggest day of my life.” And oddly she’s grown closer to her adoptive parents through all this.
As she thinks of everything that has happened in such a short time — she only began searching again in May — she realized that perhaps she could have solved the mystery of her birth long ago, “but I wasn’t ready.”
It wasn’t until now that she was ready. The timing was perfect.
Alejandra, Annie’s partner, told recently how the experience seemed to change her.
“’You are happy now,’” Alejandra told her. “It’s a positive change. You have a bounce in your step.’”
We’re feeling a little of that bounce. You can too by listening to Annie’s story <a href="https://soundcloud.com/mygaylife/episode-102-are-you-my-mom">here</a>.
And here&#8217;s a video of Annie going back to Sand Point to meet Harley for the first time. If you are not a patient person you can go to about the 3:30 mark, but keep the Kleenex close.
<iframe loading="lazy" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P-pv-3COjnU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Listen To Annie’s Story

In collaboration with The Milken Institute and Lundbeck, 23andMe is launching a groundbreaking<a href="https://www.23andme.com/depression-bipolar/"> new study</a> leveraging 23andMe’s unique research model to look at the <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BiPolar_metadata_1200x628-300x157.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25590" width="300" height="157" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BiPolar_metadata_1200x628-300x157.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BiPolar_metadata_1200x628-768x402.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BiPolar_metadata_1200x628-1024x536.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BiPolar_metadata_1200x628-880x461.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BiPolar_metadata_1200x628-1180x618.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BiPolar_metadata_1200x628.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />genetics underlying depression and bipolar disorder.
In the United States alone, depression and bipolar disorders impact more than <a href="http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics">16 million people</a>, and fewer than half ever receive effective treatment. According to the World Health Organization, depression alone accounts for the most<a href="https://www.nature.com/news/mental-health-a-world-of-depression-1.16318"> ‘years lost’</a> in disability than any other health condition worldwide.
Although scientists have spent decades studying the conditions, our understanding of the underlying biology remains rudimentary. Recent studies have offered some intriguing clues for future inquiry, but there’s still so much left to discover. This study will combine genetic information with cognitive assessments and behavioral data that researchers hope will glean new insights that could inform new treatments.
“We need a wider, more varied data set to make additional discoveries,” said Emily Drabant Conley, PhD., vice president of Business Development at 23andMe. “By studying intermediate phenotypes such as cognitive function alongside genetics and other environmental variables on a massive scale, we hope to take a significant step forward in the study of depression and bipolar.” 
   
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The goal is to enroll 15,000 people with depression and 10,000 individuals with bipolar disorder and then incorporate their data to assess better how genes influence brain processes such as attention, decision-making and visual perception.
It’s a unique approach that leverages 23andMe’s research model, which can rapidly gather vast amounts of genetic, cognitive and behavioral data for the study.
Already considered a pioneer in genetic research, 23andMe has successfully established research communities to study Parkinson’s disease, lupus, IBD, and fertility, adding to the more than 75 studies the company has already published in scientific journals to date. Additionally, this research builds on the largest study of its kind on the genetics of major depressive disorder conducted by 23andMe.
Last summer 23andMe, along with Massachusetts General Hospital and Pfizer, published findings in what was by far the<a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/ng.3623"> largest study</a> of its kind focused on major depressive disorder. In that study, researchers identified 15 new genetic regions linked to depression. The study was instructive not just in what it found, but in how it drew on the massive amount of data from 23andMe customers who had consented to research.
And that is the hope here &#8211; that 23andMe’s unique research model, and its ability to quickly recruit individuals with depression and bipolar disorder will help lead to new breakthroughs in research into these conditions.
Go<a href="https://www.23andme.com/depression-bipolar/"> here</a> to find out more about this study.

23andMe Now Enrolling For A New Genetic Study on Depression and Bipolar Disorder

<div id="attachment_25557" style="width: 231px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25557" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/FullSizeRender-2-e1499367397553-221x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25557 size-medium" width="221" height="300" />Thao Do, PhD., 23andMe’s Education and Academia Program Manager</div>
As schools were letting out for the summer, 23 professors and teachers from public and private universities, community colleges and Ivy League schools across the U.S. convened at 23andMe headquarters in Mountain View for the inaugural 23andMe Educators Summit.
Although they have different teaching backgrounds, they all came together with the same goal: finding the best teaching practices to engage students to learn genetics.
“Great teachers matter,”  said Thao Do, PhD., 23andMe’s Education and Academia Program Manager. “They can engage a student’s curiosity long after the class ends.”
<h5>Collaboration</h5>
Dr. Do, who organized the summit, said the goal of bringing these professionals together was to spark creative new ideas.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_4543-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25558" width="300" height="200" />
“When a group of diverse, passionate educators come together, something magical happens,” she said. “They start sharing their brilliant ideas and collaboratively innovate new teaching strategies together. The excitement and energy in the room were electric. This is what great learning and teaching look like and it is such an honor to witness.”
The summit is in line with the 23andMe’s Education program’s mission, which seeks to modernize genetics education and provides free educational resources to support teachers.  
As part of the Educators Summit, participants got a little lesson in what 23andMe does day to day, learning about the science behind our ancestry and health reports and about our innovative research and therapeutic efforts.
Beyond the work that is being done by 23andMe scientists, the participants also heard from  four seasoned educators —Dr. David Matthes (University of Minnesota), Dr. Bryant McAllister (University of Iowa), Dr. Stuart Kim (Stanford University), and Dr. Charles Aquadro (Cornell University) — who presented their own lesson plans to the group, inspiring discussions about their teaching approaches in the classroom.
<h5>Lesson Plans</h5>
At the end of each day, the participants formed small groups to collaboratively design new lesson plans together and shared their ideas with each other.
<div id="attachment_25560" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25560" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/FullSizeRender-300x152.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25560 size-medium" width="300" height="152" />23andMe Director of Research Services Carrie Northover presenting at 23andMe&#8217;s Educator&#8217;s Summit.</div>
“Attending the 23andme educators conference was an eye-opening experience for me,” said James Mitroka, professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University. “I learned so much about how the company takes raw SNP data and translates it into meaningful trait and ancestry results. It was great getting to learn from experienced educators about how to share with students and the public the impact of genetic testing. Also, I enjoyed just getting to know educators who have a passion for the subject on a personal basis and sharing teaching ideas with each other. Overall, it was a great experience.”
Many participants found the open group discussions the most valuable, with topics ranging from common challenges of teaching genetics to strategies on how to create new educational resources for the classroom.
The discussion didn’t just end there: The group left with plans to self-organize a Genetic Literacy Consortium to continue sharing ideas about genetics education.
If you are an educator who is interested in joining a 23andMe Educator Summit, please <a href="https://education.23andme.org/educators-summit-events-form/">let us know.</a> We’ll keep you updated as new events are announced.
To learn more about the 23andMe Education Program, please visit <a href="https://www.23andme.com/education">www.23andme.com/education</a> or contact us at <a href="mailto:educators@23andme.com">educators@23andme.com</a>
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23andMe Educators Summit

By Jessie Inchauspe, Product Manager &#8211; Research Experience
Since 2010, 23andMe’s research team has made groundbreaking discoveries on the role of genetics in health, discoveries made possible because of customers&#8217; contributions to research. We’ve published them in top scientific journals along with world-class collaborators — and we hope they will lead to advances in medicine that will make life healthier for everyone.
23andMe customers who participate in research are the reason this is possible. By answering questions about themselves and sharing with us their genetic data, they enable our research team to make discoveries and publish them. 
<h5>Did you know there’s now a place where 23andMe customers can see exactly which published discoveries they individually made possible?</h5>
<h5><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-1024x645.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-25697 size-large" width="1024" height="645" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-1024x645.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-300x189.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-768x484.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-880x554.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-1180x743.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></h5>
We’ve recently added a new feature to our logged-in site that lets 23andMe research participants see how their research responses and DNA were used and which published scientific discoveries they’ve personally helped fuel.
When participants see a “You Contributed” tag on a publication, it indicates that their data was used in the analysis performed by our researchers to lead to this new breakthrough. It takes on average about two years from the moment a customer answers a question to the publication of a new discovery that leverages their data. 
And every customer who participates plays a role &#8211; even those with no medical conditions. For research to happen we need to compare the DNA of healthy people (controls) to the DNA of people with a condition (cases).
By agreeing to answer 23andMe’s online survey questions, they’ve made it possible for our researchers to link genetic data to critical study topics from ancestry to traits to disease. Genetics research is an exciting but complex field, and the simple truth is, we couldn’t do it without our participants.
Our own CEO has <a href="https://www.23andme.com/publications/contributions/QW5uZXw0Nnw5N2VmY2VhOTFiYmZjODVjMzAxYjU0ZWI5YTkyYTE4Yg==/">contributed to 46 publications</a> at the time of writing. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-1024x765.png" alt="" class="size-large wp-image-25572" width="1024" height="765" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-1024x765.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-300x224.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-768x574.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-880x658.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0.png 1172w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
What’s your number? Log-in to <a href="https://you.23andme.com/research/publications/">find out</a>. 
Not yet a customer? You can see all our published discoveries here, find out more about <a href="https://www.23andme.com/research/">23andMe research</a> and what you <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/">can learn</a> about yourself by using 23andMe.

23andMe Customers Now See Their Contributions To Research

That urge to explore, to go beyond what we know, is programmed into our DNA — a central part of the story of human history, where people journeyed first out of Africa, and then beyond, to populate the world.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-25537 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452.jpg 1254w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
And now our DNA doesn’t just compel us to discover new frontiers, it gives us the map of where to go.
Customers at 23andMe have begun to use their DNA test results as a roadmap of sorts. They have created travel itineraries, picked trip destinations from their newfound ancestral lands, and even visited with relatives they met through 23andMe.
“I got my results one day, and I jumped on the map view to see if I had family in any of the places where my ancestry is supposedly from,” said<a href="https://blog.23andme.org/23andme-customer-stories/more-deserving/"> Rachel Kilgore</a>, a product manager in Los Angeles. “There was one distant cousin in Norway!”
<h5>Mapping It Out</h5>
Rachel may have been in the vanguard when she used her 23andMe results three years ago to map out a summer vacation, but her story isn’t so unusual now as a steady stream of people have followed her lead and used the discoveries they made with their 23andMe results to help plan their travel.
People have used their 23andMe results to help direct their <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry">travel to their ancestral roots</a> in Africa, the United Kingdom and Russia, for instance.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry-Comp-Home-e1498680599352.png" alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-24211" width="300" height="190" />
Risa Rubin used her 23andMe results to help her and her brother find members of her mother’s family who they thought had died in the Holocaust. Risa eventually<a href="https://blog.23andme.org/23andme-customer-stories/meant-to-be/"> traveled to Israel</a> to meet her newfound cousin Ayelet. Mike Lattimore knew he’d travel to Africa, but he said his results helped push him in the<a href="https://blog.23andme.org/23andme-customer-stories/the-keeper-of-memory/"> right direction</a>. For Alyssa, another customer with African ancestry, her results directed a journey to Ghana that turned into an extended stay where she<a href="https://blog.23andme.org/23andme-customer-stories/alyssas-23andme-ancestry-story/"> volunteered at an orphanage</a>.
When scientists first mapped the<a href="https://www.genome.gov/glossary/index.cfm?id=106#human_genome_project"> Human Genome</a> in 2003, they knew it would guide scientists studying disease for decades to come. What they didn’t know was that it could help people navigate their own personal journey of discovery.
“I strongly feel that we should invest in finding our ancestry because it really helps us as human beings,” said Mike.
This summer, we are launching the Golden23SM Sweepstakes to send 23 winners on trips around the world based on their DNA. Starting today through August 3, one lucky winner will be chosen each day to embark on an exciting genetic adventure. Travel packages are valued up to $20,000 and include round-trip airfare for two, five nights of accommodations, customized itineraries and more. Learn more and enter <a href="https://23andme.com/dna-travel">HERE</a>.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A purchase will not improve your chances of winning. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and D.C., 18 or older. Sweepstakes ends at 11:59 pm PT on 8/3/17. You must complete the 23andMe Personal Genetic Service™ to qualify to win. Itineraries are not for entire duration of stay. For free entry method and complete details, see <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-travel-rules">Official Rules</a> that govern this Sweepstakes. Sponsor: 23andMe, Inc. Void where prohibited.
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DNA Travel, It’s a Trip

Best Buy, the big box retailer, just became the latest store to start selling 23andMe kits on its shelves.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MKT6908-237x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25517" width="237" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MKT6908-237x300.jpg 237w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MKT6908.jpg 572w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 237px) 100vw, 237px" />
Customers can now find the kits on Amazon, at CVS, and Target. Going beyond online sales is all part of our effort to make the product more readily available to consumers.

Over on the<a href="https://corporate.bestbuy.com/23andme-now-at-best-buy-helps-reveal-story-of-who-you-are/"> Best Buy blog</a>, 23andMe’s vice president of consumer marketing and acquisition, Jon Ward, explained a little about our service and the decision to sell on store shelves as well as online.
Here’s what he said:
How does 23andMe differ from traditional genetic testing?
We really pride ourselves on taking complex, powerful technologies and making them relevant to consumers. We try to keep things as easy as possible for people. The instructions for how to handle the saliva tube are very clear, and shipping the kit back to us is prepaid. The customer doesn’t see the most complicated parts — extracting the DNA, genotyping someone’s sample and running the data through our systems to interpret the relevant information. That all happens behind the scenes.
How many people have used 23andMe?
More than 2 million in 60 countries. We’ve been at this for 11 years, but our growth has really started accelerating recently.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-300x219.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25605" width="300" height="219" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-300x219.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-768x559.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-1024x746.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-880x641.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695.jpg 1075w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />You can get a better understanding of yourself and your place in the world. A lot of people are looking at health. They want insights into how they can live longer and healthier lives. There’s another group who’s very interested in ancestry and their families. Those people want to know where they’re from and who they might be related to. They want to know any surprises or interesting tidbits that might not have been captured in their family story. And the third big area, honestly, is people who just want to know more about themselves. They’re not really sure what they’re going to get.
Why is Best Buy a good fit for this product?
We believe Best Buy has an audience of early adopters — people who are very open to new technologies that help them live better lives. And we think it fits with a lot of the emerging categories at Best Buy, like mobile and health tech.
Have you taken the test? What did you learn from it?
Yes. I learned I’m a carrier for a hearing disease called Pendred Syndrome, which, if my wife were a carrier, we might have a deaf child. So that’s pretty interesting. I know I’m not a carrier for cystic fibrosis or Tay Sachs or any of the other 40-plus carrier diseases. I also found out that based on my genetics I&#8217;m more likely to be  lactose intolerant. I had no idea, but now I’ve been able to change how I eat. And I found out that I am 1 percent Ashkenazi Jewish. Who knew?
What are some of the less serious — more fun — things you can learn?
There are a whole bunch of things people find interesting. We know things like how likely you are to move during your sleep, or whether you prefer sweet or salty snacks. We can tell you if you’re likely to have a bald spot, <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/traits/cheek-dimples">cheek dimples</a> or a cleft chin. We assess your most likely eye color and how likely you are to have red hair or curly hair. We can tell you if you’re likely to have photic sneeze reflex, which causes you to sneeze when you look into the sun.
You mentioned that you can test for a person’s<a href="https://mediacenter.23andme.org/press-releases/23andme-inc-granted-first-fda-authorization-market-direct-consumer-genetic-health-risk-reports/"> genetic health risk for diseases like Parkinson’s and late-onset Alzheimer’s</a>. What type of response have you seen from consumers?
We’ve seen a lot of interest in those diseases. People with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in their families want to look into their risks so they can understand the latest research and maybe make lifestyle changes to help to the extent they can mitigate the onset of the disease.
What do you do once you get your results? <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BBY_on_gray-e1498579519190-300x220.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-25529 size-medium" width="300" height="220" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BBY_on_gray-e1498579519190-300x220.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BBY_on_gray-e1498579519190.jpg 452w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
A lot of people print their results and go right to their doctor. If you’re negative for every carrier disease, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re completely in the clear. But it’s a good baseline test for some of the most common variants associated with those diseases. If you’re considering having children, you’ll want more comprehensive screening done. And if you have one of the variants we test for, you’ll probably want to have additional testing, have your partner tested and have a family-planning discussion to make sure you know what you’d do if you had a child who had one of those diseases. And, for example, if you’re positive for the genetic mutation associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s, we will point you to<a href="https://medical.23andme.org/resources/"> resources we’ve curated on our website</a> where you can learn more about the disease.
A lot of this information is very personal. How do you protect customer privacy?
We wouldn’t have a business if we didn’t protect people’s information. We have state-of-the-art security and privacy policies, and we have a full-time privacy officer. We give people enormous control. If you want, you can download your data and close your account at any time.
The test results can have a big impact on someone’s life. What are some of your favorite<a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/"> customer stories</a>?
The stories that always get me are the ones where people have discovered long-lost relatives on 23andMe. We have an optional feature called DNA Relatives that, if you choose to participate, will match you with others in the database who share DNA segments—from distant cousins to close relatives. There was a story where a half-brother and sister discovered each other mid-life. I think they were both only children, but all of a sudden their family opened up. Another one was a story about a woman named Angel who had been given up for adoption, and we helped reunite her with her family for Christmas. She was probably in her 60s and suddenly she has this big, fully formed family she didn’t know she had. It’s just very moving.

23andMe Kits At Best Buy

Bones found in an old mine at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco have scientists rethinking their understanding of mankind’s origins in Africa —
<div id="attachment_25487" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25487" class="wp-image-25487 size-medium" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2-300x104.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="104" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2-300x104.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2-768x267.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2-880x306.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2.jpg 946w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />A view of the site at Jebel Irhoud where the bones of early humans were found. Photo: Shannon McPherron, MPI EVA Leipzig</div>
indicating that our story there is much more complicated and goes back longer than we once thought.
The fossils — the oldest homo sapiens remains ever found — counter the idea that modern humans emerged 200,000 years ago in one verdant valley in <a href="https://blog.23andme.org/23andme-and-you/genetics-101/human-prehistory-101-out-of-eastern-africa/">East Africa</a>.
Instead, the find points to the possibility that modern humans emerged as far back<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v546/n7657/full/nature22335.html"> as 300,000 years ago</a>, and in multiple places across Africa. Our origins were not in one “cradle of civilization,” according to the researchers.
“There is no Garden of Eden in Africa, or if there is a Garden of Eden, it’s Africa,”<a href="https://www.nature.com/news/oldest-homo-sapiens-fossil-claim-rewrites-our-species-history-1.22114"> said paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin</a> of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and the lead author of the studies published in<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v546/n7657/full/nature22335.html"> Nature</a>. “The Garden of Eden is the size of Africa.”
Not everyone agrees, suggesting that perhaps <a href="http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2017/06/out-of-north-africa.html">North Africa</a> is the site of human origin, but the findings in the journal<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v546/n7657/full/nature22335.html"> Nature</a>, are only the latest <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25485" src="https://blog.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Skull-178x300.jpg" alt="" width="178" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Skull-178x300.jpg 178w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Skull.jpg 441w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 178px) 100vw, 178px" />in a series of archeological and DNA inspired discoveries in the last five years that have significantly altered our understanding of human history.
From genetic evidence of intermixing between modern humans,<a href="https://blog.23andme.org/news/the-neanderthal-within/"> Neanderthals</a>, Denisovans — and possibly other now extinct archaic humans — to new fossil remains of<a href="https://blog.23andme.org/ancestry/hello-cousin/"> Homo naledi</a>, perhaps a primitive offshoot of our direct lineage, found at the so-called Rising Star Cave in South Africa. Each new bit of information has added greater complexity to the already interesting human story.
In truth the findings fill in gaps in both the fossil and genetic record that scientists are using to trace back to the dawn of humanity. The human family tree is much more complicated, and interesting, than we thought. It includes many twisting branches, some that lead to now our extinct archaic human cousins, some that curve back into our own lineage.

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