It’s an irony that as the world’s population has grown exponentially in the last 500 years – from about half a billion to now seven billion – we are actually closer and more connected. Previous theories of connectivity focused on social connections, the so-called six degrees of separation. But DNA now shows that people are linked through a much shorter chain.

As a PBS cameraman recorded the scene, 23andMe scientist Mike Macpherson drew lines connecting photographs of about two dozen celebrities to one another while  Henry Louis Gates Jr. riffed on...

Finding Your Roots Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a 10-part series in which the Harvard scholar will delve into the genealogy and genetics of famous Americans....

Faces of America is a four-part series in which Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans in an...

Faces of America is a four-part series in which Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans in an...