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Ancestry Surprises From New Genetics Analysis Method

An anonymous reader commends a recently published study involving a new way to analyze genetic variation in human populations (full article published in PLOS Genetics): "[S]cientists from Ireland, the UK and the US analysed 2,540 genetic markers in the DNA of almost 1,000 people from around the world whose genetic material had been collected by the Human Genome Diversity Project. The results include a number of surprises... the Yakut people of northern Siberia were found to have received a significant genetic contribution from the population of the Orkney Islands, which lie off the coast of Scotland... there must have been a period of gene flow from northern Europe to east Asia. The study also shed light on the peopling of the Americas, as the results suggest that the native populations of north and south America have different origins."

5 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Wow! by mrbluze · · Score: 5, Funny

    there must have been a period of gene flow from northern Europe to east Asia. That was one helluva Khyber toss!
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    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  2. Re:Confirmation of previous theories by William+Robinson · · Score: 3, Funny

    I knew my boss had something to do with cannibals.

  3. First born child by syousef · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yakut people of northern Siberia were found to have received a significant genetic contribution from the population of the Orkney Islands, which lie off the coast of Scotland.

    My wife's pregnant with her first. We had a girl's name picked but were having hell trying to find a boy's name. She was having trouble so we had another ultrasound. We now KNOW it's a boy. I think this story has settled it. I'll be naming my first born Vladamir McHaggis. Being beaten up will build the boy's character.

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    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    1. Re:First born child by hcdejong · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll be naming my first born ... Being beaten up will build the boy's character. Ah, the Johnny Cash school of child rearing.
  4. Re:Polynesians by maglor_83 · · Score: 5, Funny

    carbon dating of the oldest chicken skeletons suggested they were a couple of hundred years older than the Spanish had arrived. You don't happen to know the results of carbon dating of the oldest chicken eggs do you? We might be able to answer the question once and for all!