A warm glass of milk and the right genes may be the secret to a <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-17852 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Empty-Bed-284x300.jpg" alt="Empty Bed" width="284" height="300" />settled <a href="https://www.23andme.org/topics/wellness/deep-sleep">deep sleep</a>, and better health.


Your genetics are among many factors — like your age, diet and environment —  that influence your ability to get a good night’s rest. And, in turn, shut eye plays an important role in your health.


The amount of sleep you get is associated with a whole assortment of other characteristics such as life satisfaction, BMI and even <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23144701">telomere length</a>.  Telomeres are DNA segments at the end of our chromosomes — some have compared them to the ends of a shoe lace. As our telomeres shorten, it hampers the ability of our cells to replicate and repair themselves.
The book, Telomere Effect — by the Nobel Prize winner  Elizabeth Blackburn, who discovered  telomerase and the role telomeres have in the aging process  — looks at habits and lifestyle that impact telomere length.

The average American gets just under seven hours of sleep, and in general when we don’t get enough — less than seven hours — it’s not just our health that suffers. Lack of sleep is associated with higher blood pressure, as well as increased risks for diabetes and depression.
23andMe has two reports that explore how your genetics may be influencing your ability to drift off into deep sleep, and how likely you are to move about while you slumber.


Sleep is actually broken into a number of stages or cycles, many of us have heard about REM sleep the sleep cycle characterized by rapid eye movement when our most vivid dreams occur.
Less well known is the Deep Sleep stage just before REM sleep, also sometimes referred to as “slow-wave sleep” or “Delta Sleep.”
This stage is considered the deepest part of the sleep cycle and is characterized by a pattern of brain activity called delta waves. The strength of delta waves reflects how deeply a person sleeps — oddly scientists use the term “sleep intensity” when talking about deep sleep. Several studies have found that a genetic variant on the ADA gene, which produces the enzyme adenosine, influences how deeply people sleep.
Throughout the sleep stages many of us move involuntary. Known as periodic limb movement, on average a person might have 10 of these an hour. <a href="https://www.23andme.org/topics/wellness/sleep-movement/">23andMe’s Sleep Movement</a> report looks at how your genetics may influence whether you move more or less than average during sleep. The report is based on several studies that point to variants in the BTBD9 gene on chromosome 6, which creates the protein BTB.
While not much is known about this protein, it appears to influence not just sleep and movement but also our sense of touch and how we metabolize iron.
Whether you’re a light sleeper, a deep sleeper or a restless sleeper, getting enough rest is important for your health.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Sleepy Time

Robin Smith, 23ndMe Senior Scientist


When did that 2 percent Yakut ancestry make its way into your family tree?
The newest <a href="https://www.23andme.org/dna-ancestry">23andMe Ancestry feature</a> may have the answer for you.
This feature is another first for 23andMe, which broke new ground by offering customers a detailed accounting of their genetic ancestry with the Ancestry Composition report. Customers who have connected accounts with a parent can also see what ancestries were inherited from each side of the family tree. The Ancestry Composition report also allows customers to dig deeper into their genetic ancestry with a genome map of their ancestry. (To learn more about this feature, see the <a href="https://blog.23andme.org/23andme-and-you/23andme-how-to/meet-your-chromosome-painting/">Meet Your Chromosome Painting</a> blog post.)


Now, 23andMe has added a fourth analysis to the report, which we call <a href="https://www.23andme.org/dna-ancestry/">&#8220;Ancestry Timeline.&#8221;</a> This feature allows customers to go back in time and learn approximately when a particular ancestry entered their family tree.

Ancestry Timeline was made possible through pioneering work by 23andMe Research Scientist <a href="https://blog.23andme.org/23andme-research/a-conversation-with-23andmes-kasia-bryc/">Kasia Bryc</a>, whose previous <a href="https://blog.23andme.org/23andme-research/dna-usa-2/">research provided insights into the American melting pot</a>.
<div id="attachment_25230" style="width: 881px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25230" class="wp-image-25230 size-large" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ancestry_timeline_sarah_antonio-871x1024.png" alt="" width="871" height="1024" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ancestry_timeline_sarah_antonio-871x1024.png 871w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ancestry_timeline_sarah_antonio-255x300.png 255w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ancestry_timeline_sarah_antonio-768x903.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ancestry_timeline_sarah_antonio-748x880.png 748w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ancestry_timeline_sarah_antonio-1003x1180.png 1003w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 871px) 100vw, 871px" />According their Ancestry Composition results, Sarah is about 25% British &amp; Irish and Antonio is about 20% Iberian. The Ancestry Timeline feature puts these results in a new context. Sarah likely had a recent ancestor (a grandparent, great-grandparent, or 2nd great-grandparent) who was 100 percent British &amp; Irish, while you have to go pretty far back on Antonio&#8217;s family tree to find someone who was 100 percent Iberian (5-8 generations ago.)</div>
23andMe determines your Ancestry Timeline by analyzing the pattern of ancestry in your genome. It looks at both the number and size of segments that derive from a particular ancestry as well as their distribution across your chromosomes. Large segments of ancestry in your genome that all come from the same population suggest a recent ancestor, while shorter segments suggest a more distant one.
An important caveat of the Ancestry Timeline feature is that it assumes that your ancestry from each population originally comes from a single (recent or distant) ancestor.
It also says nothing about where a particular ancestor was born—only their genetics. Therefore, a British &amp; Irish ancestor born in Philadelphia would look the same as one born in Dublin. Ancestry Timeline also has the same limitations as Ancestry Composition, in that it doesn&#8217;t report contributions by recently admixed populations (e.g. &#8220;Mexican&#8221; ancestry is reported as a mixture of European, Native American, and African ancestry) and trace ancestries (e.g. &lt;0.5 percent) should be taken with a grain of salt.


For a more technical explanation of how the Ancestry Timeline feature works, <a href="https://permalinks.23andme.com/pdf/23-14_admixture_date_estimator.pdf">read our white paper</a>.

23andMe’s New Ancestry Timeline

23andMe again turned to <a href="http://www.arianakilloran.com/about/">Ariana Killoran</a> to complete its newest book, The One And Only Me, which communicates the <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24606" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/61JsPEOMZvL-260x300.jpg" alt="61jspeomzvl" width="260" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/61JsPEOMZvL-260x300.jpg 260w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/61JsPEOMZvL.jpg 433w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px" />complicated and important science of genetics in a way that kids can understand. This is the second children’s book on genetics by Ariana, an illustrator who has worked with the company since its beginning. 
Her first book for the company, You Share Genes with Me, came out in 2013. Probably best known for her innovative and whimsical <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubq4eu_TDFc">Genetics 101</a> educational videos, Ariana sat down with us recently to discuss her work and the latest book. 


This is your second kids book on genetics. Why do an illustrated children&#8217;s book on this?


For two reasons, really: First, the world of medicine is being transformed by new genetic discoveries and increasing access to personal genetic information, yet there are very few children’s books out there that introduce genetics concepts to young children. I am a huge fan of the nonfiction picture book as a way of engaging kids in science.
Illustration, when paired with clear, concise text, is such a powerful tool for communicating complex information to any audience. And while these days you can learn just about anything online (I made a whole series of Genetics 101 videos for 23andMe a number of years ago), books are still those treasured objects that kids can linger over, immerse themselves in, and discover over and over again.
The other reason is more personal. My older daughter looks nothing like me (seriously, NOTHING like me), and exactly like her father. Ever since she was a baby, people have been unable to resist pointing out this fact to her. So she started asking me questions: Would she look just like Daddy when she grew up? Was she also related to Mommy? Could she be like Mommy in some other ways that she can’t see? Kids have their own questions about genetics and what it means for who they are and who they are going to be.
What was your goal for this book?
<div id="attachment_24605" style="width: 293px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-24605" class="wp-image-24605 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AK-photo1-283x300.jpg" alt="ak-photo1" width="283" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AK-photo1-283x300.jpg 283w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AK-photo1-768x816.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AK-photo1-964x1024.jpg 964w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AK-photo1-829x880.jpg 829w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AK-photo1-1111x1180.jpg 1111w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AK-photo1.jpg 1744w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 283px) 100vw, 283px" />Illustrator Ariana Killoran and some of her traits.</div>
To give kids the tools to answer some of their questions about genetics, and to inspire them to ask more questions and seek out more answers.


Science, and genetic science in particular, are pretty complicated, and yet you are able to communicate these concepts to kids. What&#8217;s your secret? 


I start by respecting kids as the powerful intellects that they are. To young kids, all new information is equal. There isn’t “hard” information and “easy” information. There is just new information and familiar information, information that sparks their interests, and information that doesn’t. Children are naturally curious about the world around them. It is only in high school and thereafter that we self-select into “science” and “nonscience” people. It’s then that some of us decide that we are incapable of learning whole subject areas of information.
Kids don’t have those hang-ups.
There are a zillion stories we could tell about genetics, but we have to pick just one to tell at a time, or else it becomes cluttered and noisy and impedes learning. I drive the scientists I work with crazy by cutting out all this stuff that they want to put into my book texts and video scripts.
All things can’t be equally important to every story, and I want to do the hard work of finding what is important so the reader doesn’t have to. A lot of times when writing about science for kids, adults think the key is to use folksy or cutesy names or metaphors, and sugarcoat the information to make it more palatable. But I find if you really trim down the text so that you say only what you need to say, and then create beautiful illustrations that clearly communicate the same point in a slightly different angle, you create the best conditions for learning.
Humor doesn’t hurt, either, because learning is supposed to be fun. If we give a kid a book that looks like that beloved bedtime story they curl up with every night, we are saying that within it there is  something special.


What interests you the most about genetics?

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
23andMe&#8217;s Education Program
Ariana&#8217;s book is part of 23andMe&#8217;s broader mission to improve genetic literacy at all levels.
Both books are part of 23andMe’s broader commitment to genetics education that started with its founding and, over the last decade, has included an educational video series with Khan Academy,<a href="https://sslvpn.23andme.com/lessons/,DanaInfo=education.23andme.org,SSL+"> crowdsourced curriculum</a> for high school and college level science classes, webinars, speaking events, outreach activities, student contests, and even contributions to<a href="https://sslvpn.23andme.com/,DanaInfo=unlockinglifescode.org,SSL+explore"> a traveling museum exhibit</a> developed by the Smithsonian and National Institutes of Health.
More recently, the company established an Education Grant Program to inspire educators to create an interactive learning experience for students by integrating personal genetics into their curriculum.</div>
“Making genetics education fun and accessible has been core to our mission since we launched in 2006,” said Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe’s co-founder and CEO. “The mapping of the human genome is the most exciting scientific discovery of our lifetime, but to truly benefit from it we each need to better understand the basics of genetics. We know that there is a lot of work to do to improve genetic literacy and 23andMe will continue our commitment to science education at all levels.”

The limits of genetics are most interesting to me. I want to know more about the way our experiences and the world around us interact with our genetics to make us who we are.
As a parent of young kids, I love watching this phenomenon in action: these little people —— with some familiar looking eyes and ears and a whole bunch of other genetic bits and pieces they inherited from my husband and I —— develop into complex humans as they interact with the world around them.


Looking at your illustrations there’s a certain lightness and humor there. How would you describe your style?
Quirky, playful, at times irreverent. But I care about every character that I draw, and try to breathe some complexity into them. I am respectful of them, and I want to give viewers opportunities to connect with them.


What are the picture books that were your favorites as a kid?


The Babar books, Beatrix Potter books, Bread and Jam for Francis by Russell Hoban/Lillian Hoban, Harlequin and the Gift of Many Colors by Remy Charlip/Burton Supree, and People by Peter Spier.
You studied African history at Yale and Berkeley, how did you wind up becoming an illustrator?


Ha! A valid question. Classic Gemini? My husband used to call me “curveball” because of a particularly nutty email exchange we had while I was doing pre-dissertation research in Malawi. One day I sent him a message about how all the pieces of my project were falling into place, how I had made all these important contacts, how my language skills had progressed, and so forth. Less than 24 hours later, I sent him a message telling him I had decided to turn down my grant, leave grad school, and enroll full-time in art school to become an illustrator. I remember being really irritated when he thought I might be acting impulsively.
But I have never looked back. The truth is, I have wanted to be a book illustrator my entire life. I have never lost my love of children’s books and children’s book art.  I have always drawn, made, sculpted, built, collaged, what have you, but somehow didn’t realize it was a job I could have. Turns out being an illustrator is not only great because I get to draw all the time, but also because it requires that I constantly immerse myself in new subject areas. And, unlike the academic writing I was doing before, my illustrations let me communicate with all kinds of people, and lots of them.


You were with 23andMe at the beginning and have been involved with the company off and on through that whole time. What do you see as the biggest changes in people&#8217;s perception of genetics in that time? What do you think 23andMe&#8217;s role has been in all that?
When we started out ten years ago, the idea of personal genomics was a complete unknown for most people, myself included! The company had a ton of work to do just making people comfortable with the notion that individuals could access their genetic information and use it responsibly. There were a handful of companies on the market at the time, some more reputable and scientifically sound than others, and 23andMe worked hard to gain the trust of both consumers and the scientific community. Ten years later, many people have accepted that genetic data provides the next frontier in personalized medicine, and 23andMe is a trusted part of this change. From the very beginning, 23andMe has taken education very seriously and understood that the company has a responsibility to their customers to make sure they understand what their data is telling them. I think it is that commitment to education and transparency that has helped transform the industry into what it is today.

Genetics Education And The One And Only Me

Sarah Laskey, 23andMe Product Scientist
The Chromosome Painting is one of my favorite parts of the 23andMe experience because it is packed with information. Then again, it can also be a little intimidating because it shows so much all at once. In this blog post, I’ll walk through some basics of what your Chromosome Painting shows. And I&#8217;ll explain what kinds of stories it can tell you about <a href="https://www.23andme.org/dna-ancestry/">your genetic ancestry</a>.
<h6>What is a Chromosome Painting?</h6>
Your Chromosome Painting is another way of looking at your Ancestry Composition results. It shows a colorful representation of the 23 pairs of chromosomes that make up your genome. Here is a photo of what real human chromosomes look like under a microscope, side by side with my Chromosome Painting:<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24850 size-larger" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/1_karyotype-880x464.png" alt="" width="880" height="464" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/1_karyotype-880x464.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/1_karyotype-300x158.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/1_karyotype-768x405.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/1_karyotype-1024x540.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/1_karyotype-1180x623.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/1_karyotype.png 1520w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" />
In the microscope photograph on the left, the chromosomes are laid out vertically. In the Chromosome Painting on the right, they’re shown as colorful horizontal bars. In both images, the chromosomes are shown in pairs and labeled with numbers (1 through 22) or the letters X and Y.
My Chromosome Painting has two copies of the X chromosome because I’m female. The picture on the left shows the genome of a biological male, who has one copy of the X chromosome and one copy of the Y chromosome. Y chromosomes aren’t shown in Chromosome Paintings.
In the Chromosome Painting, gray regions in chromosomes 13, 14, 15, 21, and 22 represent parts of the genome where 23andMe doesn’t test any markers because the DNA sequences in those regions are repetitive and hard to measure.
<h6>Exploring your genetic ancestry</h6>
In your Chromosome Painting, your genome is “painted” with colors representing up to 31 different ancestries. You can hover over or click on the different ancestries in your Chromosome Painting to learn where they’re found in your genome.
The 31 Ancestry Composition populations are organized in a hierarchy, which reflects the genetic structure of global populations. For example, Britain and Ireland are part of Northwest Europe, which is part of Europe. To see this hierarchy in action, take a closer look at my Chromosome Painting:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24851 size-larger" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2_painting-880x663.png" alt="" width="880" height="663" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2_painting-880x663.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2_painting-300x226.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2_painting-768x579.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2_painting-1024x771.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2_painting-1180x889.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2_painting.png 1476w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" />
My Chromosome Painting shows genetic ancestry from several different fine-resolution populations like British &amp; Irish, French &amp; German, and Ashkenazi Jewish. But these are all sub-categories of European. When I click “European” on the right hand sidebar, my whole genome is colored in “European blue”:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24852 size-larger" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/3_european-880x663.png" alt="" width="880" height="663" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/3_european-880x663.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/3_european-300x226.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/3_european-768x579.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/3_european-1024x771.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/3_european-1180x889.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/3_european.png 1476w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" />
What can you do with your own high-resolution picture of the Ancestry Composition on each of your chromosomes? You can click on the different populations to understand how they relate to each other and where they’re found in your genome. You also can talk to family members (or connect with them on 23andMe) to learn which branches of your family contributed which parts of your genetic ancestry.
<h6>One segment, two segment, red segment, blue segment</h6>
The colors in your Chromosome Painting tell you about your Ancestry Composition, but you can learn even more by looking at the number and length of the DNA segments assigned to each ancestry. Everyone inherits half of their DNA from their mother and half from their father. When DNA is passed from parents to their children, the two chromosomes in each pair are randomly shuffled together in a process called recombination.
This process breaks up long segments of a single ancestry into shorter segments. Sometimes very short segments of ancestry are lost during recombination and don’t get passed to the next generation. This is why ancestry from your distant ancestors only shows up in a few short segments of your genome, if at all.
The technical term for the genetic mixing of previously separate populations is admixture. If you have different DNA segments painted with different colors in your Chromosome Painting, those are evidence of admixture in your genetic history. Take a look at these two Chromosome Paintings side by side:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24853 size-larger" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/4_sarah-antonio-white-880x498.png" alt="" width="880" height="498" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/4_sarah-antonio-white-880x498.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/4_sarah-antonio-white-300x170.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/4_sarah-antonio-white-768x435.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/4_sarah-antonio-white-1024x579.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/4_sarah-antonio-white-1180x668.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/4_sarah-antonio-white.png 1944w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" />
<h6>Every Chromosome Painting Tells a Story</h6>
These Chromosome Paintings show very different genetic histories, and not just because of their Ancestry Compositions! Even if we ignore the colors themselves, the two pictures are pretty different. The long, unbroken stretches of color on the left are evidence of recent admixture, while the short segments of different ancestries on the right suggest admixture many generations ago.
My Chromosome Painting is the one on the left. I have one grandparent whose family came from Germany, one grandparent whose family came from Ireland, and two Ashkenazi Jewish grandparents. In other words, my ancestors from different European populations just started mixing together in the past two or three generations. The Chromosome painting on the right shows someone who identifies as Latino (Antonio, an Engineer at 23andMe), whose Native American (yellow), African (pink) and European (blue) ancestors probably started mixing with each other many generations ago.
How can you use this information to understand your own Chromosome Painting? In general, if your most recent ancestor from a population was very recent, you will have segments of that ancestry on more chromosomes, and those segments will be longer, than if your most recent ancestor was many generations ago.
<h6>Thanks, Mom and Dad!</h6>
If you have a biological parent or child who is also a 23andMe user, you can connect with them to improve the resolution of your Ancestry Composition results.
Connecting with a parent will also reorganize your Chromosome Painting so that the top chromosome in each pair is the one you inherited from your mother, and the bottom chromosome is the one you inherited from your father.
<h6>Connecting or not with a Parent</h6>
Even if you are not connected with either of your parents through 23andMe, you may still be able to learn a little bit about their ancestry by looking at your own Chromosome Painting:
<ul>
<li>If you are male, you inherited all of the ancestry painted on your X chromosome from your mother.</li>
<li>If you have the same ancestry painted in the same place on both copies of a chromosome, then you inherited the same ancestry from both of your parents in that region of your genome.</li>
<li>If you share a segment of DNA with a <a href="https://you.23andme.com/tools/relatives/">DNA Relative</a>, and you know whether you are connected to that relative on your maternal or your paternal side, then you inherited that segment of DNA (and its ancestry) from the same side of your family through which you’re connected to that relative.</li>
<li>If your parents come from different genetic backgrounds, then you may be able to guess which chromosomes you inherited from which of your parents. You can do this by by looking at the ancestries painted on each chromosome. For technical reasons, this will work even better if you are connected with a parent. That is because our computational algorithm will be able to phase your raw data with more accuracy.</li>
</ul>
<h6>A deeper dive: Confidence levels</h6>
If you’ve mastered the basic details of your Chromosome Painting and you’d like to explore at an even more advanced level, click on “Change confidence level” and move the slider that appears above your Chromosome Painting. You can explore the different views of your Chromosome Painting at different confidence levels. You can also compare those different views to each other.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24854 size-larger" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/5_confidence_1-880x218.png" alt="" width="880" height="218" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/5_confidence_1-880x218.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/5_confidence_1-300x74.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/5_confidence_1-768x190.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/5_confidence_1.png 964w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" />
The algorithm we use to calculate your Ancestry Composition analyzes one small piece of your DNA at a time. For each piece of your DNA, we calculate the probability of that piece coming from 31 different populations. The confidence slider on the Chromosome Painting allows you to explore our estimates of your genetic ancestry at different probability cutoffs. For example, if a segment of your DNA has a 55 percent chance of being Japanese, then that segment will be painted as Japanese at the 50 percent confidence level. But at the 60 to 90 percent level it will be painted with a more broad ancestry (either Broadly East Asian, Broadly East Asian &amp; Native American, or Unassigned).
<h6>Putting it all together</h6>
Everyone’s genetic history is a little different. Every Chromosome Painting has a different story to tell too. This means that you may learn more about your ancestry from some of the suggestions in this blog post than from others. Just remember – like every true work of art, your Chromosome Painting isn’t something to be understood.  It&#8217;s something to be explored.
For a detailed technical explanation of how we calculate your ancestry and paint your chromosomes, check out the <a href="https://www.23andme.org/ancestry-composition-guide/">Ancestry Composition Guide</a>.

Meet Your Chromosome Painting

By James Rathmell, 23andMe Privacy Fellow

Our mission at 23andMe is to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. One <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-6586" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-200x200.jpg" alt="23andMe_Logo_blog" width="200" height="200" />way we do this is by giving community members the ability to connect with distant and close genetic relatives with our sharing tools. We have two main tools you can use to compare your DNA and connect with others: “Share and Compare” and “DNA Relatives.”


It’s important when using these tools to think about your genetic privacy and be mindful about how you share your information. This post explains how the tools work, discusses what you should think about when using them, and shows you the tools you can use to control how your information is shared.
<h6>
Share and Compare</h6>

With Share and Compare, you can share your reports directly with close family and friends to examine <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24591" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Share-and-Compare-Selection-300x188.png" alt="share-and-compare-selection" width="300" height="188" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Share-and-Compare-Selection-300x188.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Share-and-Compare-Selection.png 619w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />genetic differences. When you open Share and Compare, you’ll see a family tree. By clicking on the different relationships, you can invite family to view your 23andMe results – even if they haven’t been genotyped.
You can also share your results with friends and more distant relatives.
When you invite someone to share results, you have two options: you can either share all of your reports, including health and segment-level data, or share only your ancestry results. Sharing goes both ways; that is, if you share all of your reports with another customer, not only can they see all of your reports, but you can see all of their reports.
Under “Manage Connections,” you can review all of the connections you have. By clicking on a connection, you can change your sharing level or choose to remove the connection.
<a href="https://you.23andme.com/tutorials/share_compare/">Click here</a> to see the Share and Compare tutorial.

<h6>
DNA Relatives</h6>

DNA Relatives (DNAR) allows you to find and connect with the broader community of 23andMe members to <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24595 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DNA-Relatives-Home-People-View-300x232.jpg" alt="dna-relatives-home-people-view" width="300" height="232" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DNA-Relatives-Home-People-View-300x232.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DNA-Relatives-Home-People-View-768x594.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DNA-Relatives-Home-People-View-1024x792.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DNA-Relatives-Home-People-View-880x680.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DNA-Relatives-Home-People-View-1180x912.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DNA-Relatives-Home-People-View.jpg 1261w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />discover shared genetics, relationships, and family history. If you choose to participate in DNAR, you have a number of different options, which you can change any time by clicking on Update DNA Relatives Preferences.
Your DNAR setting decisions only impact what information is viewable within the tool. It does not affect your broader 23andMe privacy settings.

<ul>
<li>Open Sharing. If you participate in Open Sharing, you will share your full name, ancestry reports, and overlapping DNA segments with all of your DNA relatives. You can also compare your results with any of your DNA relatives that are also participating in Open Sharing. If you don’t participate in Open Sharing, you can choose to send individual sharing requests to anyone whose reports you want to compare with.</li>
<li>Display Name. If you are participating in Open Sharing, your full name will be displayed. If you are not participating in Open Sharing, you can choose to display just your first name and last initial (Jane S), just your first initial and last name (J Smith), or just your initials (JS).
</li>
<li>
Enhanced Profile Settings (Optional). You can also choose to provide additional information to help other members find you and make connections. For example, you could add a family surname, the birth country of a grandparent, or a summary of your interests.
Once you’ve made connections on DNAR – either by participating in Open Sharing or by making individual connections – you can use the DNA tab to compare your connections to one another. This also means that any of your connections can compare you to any of their other connections, whether or not the other connections participate in DNAR.</li>
</ul>
<h6>
Other Ways of Sharing</h6>

Your genetic data is yours to benefit from, explore, and understand. With this in mind, we offer tools for you to export and print your raw data and reports.
There are many different websites and apps that will allow you to upload your raw genetic data to connect with new communities or receive different types of genetic reports. You may also want to discuss your results with a healthcare professional. Or you might want to share some of our fun traits reports on social media. Anytime you export or share information, though, it’s always important to think about who the intended audience is, and to consider the impact on yourself and relatives especially when sharing sensitive insights.

<h6>
Taking Control of Your Genetic Privacy</h6>
You can easily edit your Share and Compare and DNAR settings from your Account Settings page. If you don’t want to receive invitations from other community members, you can block all invitations. You can also view and manage all of your connections to change sharing levels or to remove connections. It’s worth reviewing these settings once or twice a year, and taking a look at your existing connections so that you have a full picture you’re sharing genetic results with. Sharing genetic results is incredibly exciting, and you can learn a great deal about yourself by connecting with close and distant relatives. However, it’s important to be thoughtful about sharing your information. Here’s a quick checklist of things to keep in mind.
<ul>
<li>
Have you thought about how sensitive information could impact others? When using Share and Compare, DNAR, or sharing your results elsewhere, there’s always the chance that you could learn something about yourself or your family – such as sensitive health information – that could be upsetting. Please be sensitive to others&#8217; right to choose for themselves whether they would like to know this kind of information. Ask the people you are considering sharing with if they’re okay learning more about your genetic reports.
</li>
<li>
Have you thought about what kind of information other people can learn about you? Whenever you give someone else access to your data – genetic data or not – there’s always the risk that they might choose to share it with others. While unlikely, it’s also possible that your connections could learn additional sensitive information about your genetics if you share segments with third parties. Think about what kinds of information you would be comfortable with others learning about you whenever using any sharing tools on 23andMe or elsewhere.
</li>
<li>
Are you comfortable with security and privacy of other apps/websites? Before you upload your raw genetic data to a new site or app, make sure you’re confident that they have strong security and that they will protect your privacy.
</li>
<li>
Have you talked about sharing with family and friends with profiles on your account? If you have several people sharing an account, and you choose to connect with someone, you can choose which profiles in the account to share. Ask the other people who share your account if it’s okay to share their results.
</li>
<li>
Have you thought about your legal rights? The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) prohibits the use of genetic information to determine health insurance eligibility or premiums or for employment decisions such as hiring, firing, pay, and promotion. But, the law does not address other potential uses of genetic information, such as for determining eligibility and premiums for long term care insurance or life insurance. This is particularly important to think about with Share and Compare, and when using your genetic data on other apps and websites. Since you share genes with your family, you may want to consider how information you post could impact them as well.</li>
</ul>

James Rathmell

Sharing and Protecting Your Genetic Information

A Personalized Guide to the Incredible You
By Scott Andress, Director of Product Design at 23andMe
Your 23andMe results have arrived. The day you’ve been waiting for is here. It’s the culmination of curiosity, mystery — even trepidation. What will you find out about yourself and your family? The answers are just one click away.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24050 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-300x202.jpg" alt="Homepage4" width="300" height="202" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-300x202.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-768x518.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-1024x690.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-880x593.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-1180x796.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
This is a pivotal moment for our customers – and this is where we first placed ourselves as product designers. How can we help people navigate through a rich forest of hundreds of thousands of genetic markers and show them the ways their genes make them truly unique?
<h2>The opportunity</h2>
Designing a consumer product powered by complex genetic information is challenging. 23andMe provides customers with deeply personal insights into themselves and their families. Access to this knowledge is useful, interesting, and fun, but it can also be sensitive. As product designers, we strive to create a customer experience that presents a wide range of information with a clear, approachable, and human tone.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24049 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-300x114.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="114" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-300x114.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-768x291.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-1024x388.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-880x333.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-1180x447.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Late last year, we launched the new 23andMe experience, making us the first and only direct-to-consumer company to offer reports that meet FDA standards for scientific and clinical validity. Building on what we learned from earlier versions of our product, our objective was to design a more streamlined interface that would clearly present personalized information on carrier status, traits, and ancestry.
The new website design improved our product in many ways. Overall, streamlining the experience paid off by making genetic information easier to access and comprehend. But our homepage — the first thing our customers see when they log in to our service and the crossroad for our experience — was overly simplified and lacked key functionality. We knew we could do better.
Early this year, we took a fresh look at our homepage. Our goal was to create something that would guide customers through our services by providing meaningful and personalized information, while surfacing interesting activities to engage with. Here’s how we approached this project.
<h2>Our process</h2>
To kick off our project, we conducted a design sprint. For inspiration, we looked to the great foundations provided by the <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24046" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-300x137.jpg" alt="sketch_wall" width="300" height="137" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-300x137.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-768x351.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-1024x468.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-880x402.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-1180x539.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Day one of our sprints started with an intensive cross-functional collaborative session that included not just designers, but product managers, engineers, and scientists. Each team member brought their own experience, perspective, and data to the table so that we could paint a holistic picture of the possibilities and challenges at hand. After setting the stage and outlining the customer journey, we separated to individually create a broad range of potential solutions through rapid, low-fidelity sketches. Our goal was to generate and collect as many different concepts as possible. When we reconvened as a group, we critiqued, questioned, and ranked each concept. From there we decided which ideas were the top contenders to inform a design prototype that we would test with customers. Clear themes were beginning to emerge:
<ul>
<li>Personalization is essential. Everyone is unique and their results should illustrate that. If we could create ways to personalize the experience, we would make our services feel more friendly, human and approachable.</li>
<li>Easy navigation will enhance value. Some of our customers know exactly what they are looking for and just want a quick way to find it. Other customers aren’t sure what features are available to them. We should create a system that allows all customers to find what they are looking for, while also offering a way to discover new things they were previously unaware of. As customers go on their own individual journeys, they would benefit from recommendations for what to do next.</li>
<li>Summarize and provide context. Ultimately our goal is to help customers better understand themselves through genetics. We should find ways to inform and educate our customers about how genetics influences their lives. Our job is to connect the dots and provide easy to understand take-aways.</li>
</ul>
Days two and three of our sprint focused on bringing these ideas together into a cohesive design for us to test. As the design team started to work through the concept sketches and notes from the previous day, organizing them according to themes and emerging principles, we started to see some patterns that indicated two possible directions.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24048" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-300x164.jpg" alt="homepage laydown 9" width="300" height="164" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-300x164.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-768x420.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-1024x560.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-880x481.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-1180x645.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-271x149.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-372x204.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-574x315.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-980x539.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />The first direction centered around a comprehensive overview that encouraged free-range exploration. In this model we would reveal almost everything available for the customer to explore, all on one dashboard. The other direction provided a more focused and guided experience, where we would provide some high-level information and focus on a personalized activity feed that would recommend what the customer could do next. After debating the merits of both ideas, we came to the conclusion that each direction had promise. We decided to rapidly design and prototype both models. Essentially, we kicked-off a UX bake-off, putting both designs up against each other to find the ultimate customer experience.
On days four and five we tested our design prototypes with current customers and with people who were not familiar with 23andMe. We learned a lot from these interviews. First, we found that both directions were perceived as an improvement over the current version. Good news —  we were on to something! But instead of a singular winning direction, we learned that customers wanted the best parts of each design. Customers want clear and easy navigation, interesting take-aways and guidance on what to do next. We also relearned something that we had, admittedly, heard in previous studies – personalization doesn’t necessarily mean a prominently featured profile photo. “I already know what I look like! I don’t need to see my face at the top of the page,” is something we heard from more than one participant. Okay, no big profile photos — got it!
<h2>The outcome</h2>
Having a robust, clear, and well-grounded point of view is essential for meaningful product experiences. As designers and as a cross-functional product team, we should strive to be the experts of our product and formulate a vision for how it should evolve over time. A crucial part of this expertise is gained by becoming ardent advocates for our customers and understanding their points of view. Being open and receptive to their candid feedback is essential. A highly effective product team knows how to gauge and absorb feedback while thoughtfully incorporating it into the directional vision.
When done successfully, the result fulfills the customer’s desires and the overall goals for the product experience. This approach is especially important when designing for new and emerging experiences like personal genetics and consumer health products. These capabilities are so new to most people that it is our responsibility to show our customers what is possible, to educate them about the science and to guide them through the best ways to take advantage of what they learn.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24047" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-300x164.jpg" alt="homepage laydown 10" width="300" height="164" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-300x164.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-768x420.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-1024x560.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-880x481.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-1180x645.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-271x149.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-372x204.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-574x315.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-980x539.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />As our design sprint approached conclusion, we used our study findings to help us blend the best components from both directions into a single compelling design.
The final homepage design provides our customers with just three main elements: an interactive header that educates by providing context for results, quick navigation fortified with some basic summary information and a dynamic activity feed that recommends items to see and do. In other words, this page answers these questions for our customers; How do my genes make me unique? Where is my most important information? What can I do next?
Next, we started the hard work to bring the vision to life. For several weeks our product management and engineering teammates collaborated to build the functionality required to power the personalization and other new capabilities of the homepage. One key element was the new interactive header module. This was a big opportunity to provide valuable, personalized context and education to our customers. It was also a chance to incorporate our vibrant and friendly brand. Tuning this interaction to make it work well responsively — across desktop, tablet and phone browsers — was a big challenge. But the result is a great example of how a delightful interactive element can enhance the presentation of substantive information.
Before we made the new homepage available to all of our customers, we conducted a final series of tests with live traffic on our website to compare how well it would perform relative to the version it would replace. Overall, the results of this test showed us that customers spent more time on the new homepage and on the entire website each time they logged in. They also engaged with more reports and other key features compared to our original homepage. These findings demonstrated that our goal had been achieved. Our new homepage was a valuable guide for customers, helping them gain most from our services.
<h3>What’s next?</h3>
Our new personalized homepage advances our goal to provide customers with easy and straightforward access to their most important personal information — their own genetics. Customers can easily gain insights into how their genes make them unique. And the new homepage guides them with personalized recommendations to get the most from our service. But this is just the beginning of a continuously improving and expanding experience. The page will evolve as we learn more from our customers over time.
So what lies ahead for product design at 23andMe? After the success of our design sprint for the new homepage, we started to ask how we might take this thinking and apply it to other key features across our customer experience. Stay tuned — we’re working hard on some awesome new capabilities for the 23andMe service over the next few months.
Special thanks to Crystal Shei, Diane Wei, Caitlyn McCarthy, Gloria Lin,   and Susan Furest on our product design team, as well as Sooyun Choi and our brand and marketing team, for bringing their talents and insights to this project.   And a shout out to our cross-functional team across product management, science, consumer insights, analytics and engineering for enthusiastically embracing the design sprint process and for collaboratively driving this project from concept to reality.

Scott Andress

Designing the New 23andMe Homepage

<div class="copy-paste-block">By Kate Black and Zerina Curevac*</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block"></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">Since our founding a decade ago, 23andMe has only received requests from law enforcement for information regarding five of our more than 1.2 million customers. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Privacy-275x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23677" width="275" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Privacy-275x300.jpg 275w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Privacy.jpg 636w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block"></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">In each of these cases, 23andMe successfully resisted the request and protected our customers’ data from release to law enforcement.</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block"></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">While receiving and responding to law enforcement requests is not a common occurrence at 23andMe like it might be at some large tech companies, customer privacy and trust are at the core of our approach to the issue.</div>
We believe a key part of maintaining that trust is keeping customers informed and answering their questions about data security and privacy, so we’d like to  take this opportunity to answer some of the most commonly asked questions from our customers.
<h4>
Why would law enforcement be interested in my genetic data? </h4>
Law enforcement agencies are interested in genetic information because it may help identify individuals who are the focus of an investigation. The federal government manages the Combined DNA Index System (“CODIS”), a database comprised of the genetic information of convicted offenders and arrestees, collected by state and federal law enforcement agencies. Typically, law enforcement officers will collect DNA from an unknown suspect at a crime scene and compare it to CODIS to see if they can match it to a convicted offender or arrestee profile. If the unknown suspect matches an individual in CODIS, law enforcement can obtain the identity of the suspected perpetrator. If a search fails to return a match, law enforcement can run an additional search of CODIS called a “familial search.”
Unlike a routine database search, a familial search can  potentially identify close biological relatives to the unknown profile obtained from crime scene evidence. By finding close relatives of an unknown suspect, law enforcement may be able to locate the unknown suspect and solve the crime. If no direct matches or familial matches are found in CODIS, law enforcement sometimes turn to privately owned databases in search of a match.


The Electronic Frontier Foundation <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/05/how-private-dna-data-led-idaho-cops-wild-goose-chase-and-linked-innocent-man-20">reported</a> on such a situation in May 2015, where police in Idaho tried to identify a suspect for a cold case murder using a publicly searchable Ancestry.com database. The public database allowed detectives to identify an unknown suspect because the suspect’s father had donated his DNA sample to the database years prior. Ultimately, the identified suspect was cleared as a false positive.

<h4>
Is my 23andMe data likely to be useful to law enforcement or the government? 
</h4>

There are a number of technical and legal reasons that 23andMe data is highly unlikely to be useful to law enforcement, and we’d like to highlight a couple of the most important ones.


First, 23andMe’s tests are of little use to law enforcement or government because they cannot technically be matched against the information in CODIS or other governmental databases. 23andMe’s genealogy tests use a genotyping technology that produces markers for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), but  law enforcement use a different kind of DNA test that uses markers known as short tandem repeats. This makes comparing the two very difficult. One way to think about the difference between the tests is that 23andMe’s test focuses on how you are like other people, while forensic tests focus on how you are different from other people.


If law enforcement presented a scenario in which SNP information was useful to a case, it’s still unlikely that it would be admitted into any legal proceedings for a number of reasons. One reason is a legal principle known as “chain of custody” which requires that a piece of evidence is what it claims to be, or that evidence collected can be reliably connected to a specific individual in order to use it in court. Genetic data collected by 23andMe fails to meet the chain of custody requirement.
Our service is offered online, and as a result, we can’t precisely authenticate an individual’s identity when they use our service. In other words, we don’t have any means to “reliably connect” any particular DNA sample to an individual.
We have been successful in communicating these, and other, limitations to law enforcement agents when they contact us.  Once law enforcement officials see both the legal and technical limitations of attempting to use the data, they have backed off of their requests.  As a result 23andMe has not released any data to law enforcement to date. We will continue to vigorously protect the privacy and security of our customers’ data. Those protections for customers remain at the core of what we do.

<h4>
What is 23andMe doing to protect my data? </h4>
Every company must decide how to respond if and when law enforcement officers request information about their customers. 23andMe unequivocally chooses to use all practical legal and administrative resources to resist requests from law enforcement, and we do not share customer data with any public databases, or with entities that may increase the risk of law enforcement access.
<h4>
What are the limitations of 23andMe&#8217;s data protection efforts? 
</h4>

While we will continue to do everything in our power to protect our customer’s information, we also think it’s important to be transparent about our limitations. As stated in our Privacy Statement, we may ultimately be required by law to comply with a valid court order, subpoena, or search warrant for genetic or personal information. We can’t speculate on what future scenarios might bring rise to such disclosures, but we will notify the affected individual(s) through the contact information they have provided to us in advance of any disclosure to law enforcement, unless doing so would violate the law or a court order.

<h4>
How can I keep track of 23andMe’s releases to law enforcement? 
</h4>

We stay accountable and transparent to our customers via our <a href="https://www.23andme.org/transparency-report/">Transparency Report</a>, which details the law enforcement requests we have received and our responses.
Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at privacy@23andMe.com.
*
Kate Black is 23andMe&#8217;s Privacy Officer and Corporate Counsel, while Zerina Curevac is a 23andMe legal intern.

Kate Black

23andPrivacy: Your Data and Law Enforcement

Twins have long fascinated us as humans, so much so that twin stories are ingrained in the mythology of almost every culture.
Beyond folklore, the study of twins has also become the bedrock for much of what we know about the genetics of traits, diseases, and other conditions. 
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</code>For scientists, twins offer a ready-made test of nature and nurture, with their paired roles influencing everything from height to disease risk to intelligence. Looking at the similarities and differences shared between fraternal twins and identical twins has brought into sharp relief some of what can be explained through genetics and what can be explained from the environment. 
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</code>When we look at identical twins, we often are drawn more to their <a href="http://www.apa.org/monitor/2015/01/double-life.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">similarities than their differences</a>, but the differences can often be just as illuminating. 
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</code>Last year, a <a href="https://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v47/n7/full/ng.3285.html">meta-analysis</a> of more than 50 years of twin research—which included studies on more than 14.5 million pairs of twins—estimated that the influence of genes and the environment across all traits is about equal. 
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</code>Twins can be identical (monozygotic) or fraternal (dizygotic), but there are several other different types, including half-identical, mirror twins, and fraternal twins from different fathers (it happens). The rate of twin births has actually increased in the last 30 years, going from about 2 percent of all births to more than 3 percent.
Some of this may have to do with fertility treatment, and some might be related to women having children later in life. Older women are more likely to have twins than younger women.

Twins Seeing Double

The new customer experience at 23andMe is about more than just our new look; it&#8217;s also about new features.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23437" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Biology-Detail-202x300.jpg" alt="Biology Detail" width="202" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Biology-Detail-202x300.jpg 202w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Biology-Detail.jpg 534w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px" />
Among those new features are our new <a href="https://www.23andme.org/service/#trait-report-list">Trait Reports</a>. These reports can be a fun way to learn how your genetics influence such things as the color of your eyes, whether you’ve got dimples, and if you have a sweet tooth.
But when designing these reports, we also wanted to illustrate that it’s not just your genetics that determines these traits, but other factors as well.  What’s also useful about these reports is that they can tell you how similar or unique you are when compared to the rest of 23andMe’s customers.
The concept behind how we report the Trait results is fairly simple.
To start with, each report is based on specific genetic markers associated with that particular trait. (Customers can read more about how we determine which markers to use in the <a href="https://you.23andme.com/reports/trait.facial_features/details/#assessment-trait-methodology-trait-methodology-facial-features">Scientific Details</a>.) Then, the analysis using these markers is summarized at the top of each report.
As one example, consider the report on <a href="https://www.23andme.org/topics/traits/eye-color">eye color</a>. This report is based on a single genetic marker, , that plays a large role in determining eye color. At this marker, your genotype could be  either AA, AG, or GG. If you have an AG, 23andMe analyzes the data from 23andMe research participants who also have an AG, and in the left ring chart shows the percentage of those people who have brown, hazel, green, or blue eyes. In other words, the left ring chart is the eye-color breakdown of research participants who have your same genotype at this marker and have answered the eye-color survey question.

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-23436" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Eye-Color-300x226.jpg" alt="Eye Color" width="300" height="226" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Eye-Color-300x226.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Eye-Color-768x580.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Eye-Color-1024x773.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Eye-Color-880x664.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Eye-Color.jpg 1028w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Each Trait result has three components:

1) The ring chart on the left shows how common the trait is in customers who have the same genotype as you at specific genetic markers. (If you are already a customer you can read more about how we determine which genetic markers to use <a href="https://you.23andme.com/reports/trait.facial_features/details/#assessment-trait-methodology-trait-methodology-facial-features">here</a>.)

2) The ring chart on the right shows how common that trait is overall in 23andMe customers, regardless of genetics.
3) The result headline at the top predicts whether you are likely to have the trait, and how that compares to other customers with your genotype. This summary is based on the sum of percentages from the left ring chart.
</div>

The ring chart on the right isn’t about genetics at all – it just shows how common each eye color is in 23andMe customers. You can compare your prediction to the breakdown across other customers to see how similar or different your genetic prediction is from what would typically be expected for the average customer.
To report your likely eye color at the top of the report, we first group the eye colors into two main categories – “Light-colored” and “Dark-colored”. Then, if more than 50 percent of people who share your genotype have dark-colored eyes, your report would say, “You are likely to have dark-colored eyes.”

<h5>
&#8220;What if my result doesn&#8217;t match my actual trait?&#8221; 
</h5>

Most human traits are complex, meaning they are not determined by a single factor. Even when we find genetic factors that have a large effect on a trait, they still explain only a portion of it. This means that we can only determine the likelihood of having that trait.  That means there is still the chance of not having that trait.
We see this in the data from our customers: out of the 23andMe research participants we looked at who have an  “AG” at , around 35 percent  have light eyes and 65 percent  have dark eyes. So for about 35 percent of customers with reports that state that they “are likely to have dark eyes,” they actually have light-colored eyes. But for some genotypes, the prediction is much stronger. For example, someone with a “GG” genotype has a 97 percent chance of having light eyes. Still not 100 percent, but much more likely.


Many other factors influence eye color, including your ancestry, other genes, and other non-genetic factors. The same goes for all of the other traits in our reports, too. That&#8217;s why we also include a section in each report that talks about some of these other factors. The results are based only on specific genetic factors that we know about now, but our predictions may get better as we learn more. And your participation in surveys will help us do this by providing more and more data to work with going forward.
Trait Reports and the 23andMe research behind some of them are about more than just fun facts.
Typically there isn’t research money to support studies into the genetic basis of “<a href="https://www.23andme.org/topics/traits/cleft-chin/">having a cleft chin</a>,&#8221; or other seemingly inconsequential features, even though some of this research could potentially shed light on broader questions about human development and health.  Aside from 23andMe, there are very few large-scale studies about these kinds of traits.
The only reason we are able to do this research is because we have the right quality and quantity of data –  thanks to our customers who participate in research.
23andMe is extremely grateful for the generosity of our customers in sharing information about themselves. In the future, we hope to apply what we&#8217;re learning about traits to other aspects of our product, especially those concerning health and disease risk.
We couldn&#8217;t do it without you!
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-23439 size-large" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/About-Eye-Color-640x381.jpg" alt="About Eye Color" width="640" height="381" />

23andMe and You — Page 4