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Genome Hacker Uncovers 13-Million-Member Family Tree
ananyo writes "Using data pulled from online genealogy sites, a renowned 'genome hacker' has constructed what is likely the biggest family tree ever assembled. The researcher and his team now plan to use the data — including a single uber-pedigree comprising 13 million individuals, which stretches back to the 15th century — to analyze the inheritance of complex genetic traits, such as longevity and facial features. In addition to providing the invitation list to what would be the world's largest family reunion, the work presented by computational biologist Yaniv Erlich at the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting in Boston could provide a new tool for understanding the extent to which genes contribute to certain traits. The pedigrees have been made available to other researchers, but Erlich and his team at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have stripped the names from the data to protect privacy."
I did.
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
"Think they all know each other?"
nah, too lame.
"Booking a venue for the reunions must be a bitch."
eh, not any less lame.
"I wonder how many of them slept with each other."
More icky than funny, but so far the best I've got.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
That's some bullshit. I want to see if I've banged any distant cousins
Sorry Mr. Elrich. Even with your proof of the family tree, you still can't marry your sister.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
It's called hello.jpg, not goatse.jpeg - looks like you're sullying the goatse name yourself.
The online family tress they're using as source material are notoriously unreliable. They don't include sources, errors are copied from tree to tree by name collectors, and many links are often incorrect. I can't believe they think they can draw a conclusion from any of it. Respectable genealogists would laugh at this endeavor.
Insert your head into your rectum and try to scream.
-- TrisexualPuppy
Stripping the names is a laughable defence against deanonymization. This tree will be deanonymized in no time.
Given that Nature has the headline 'Genome hacker ...', I think it's fair to say that, at long last, the term "Hacker" has finally been redefined and now no longer means "computer criminal" to the general public. Sure, there is still some way to go with the uninformed, but by and large that battle has been won.
Next up: free software.
...Tee hee hee hee hee
Wow, now everybody's a hacker these days. It started to go downhill with the whole "lifehacker" meme. perhaps I should be called "garbage hacker" instead of the prior preferred term, "sanitation engineer"
Based on what we know about human behavior, many of the links on that tree are not correct.
I wonder how they will track non-paternity. People with random fathers pop up everywhere in studies like this, at a rate of something like 10-15%.
Leave it to a geneticists to clean up the sloppy work of fathers and genealogists.
the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
Is this the family tree going back to Genghis Khan?
Were these all collected with consent?
cause you already marked off all the close ones?
Think of all the STDs.
Are agnostics skeptical of unicorns too?
Where were these 13 million people hinding?
Clayvon.
(Credited as "Trashy Guy" here, for some reason.)
"Once we've identified and embraced our sickness, we'll have strength...and that's when we get dangerous." - John Waters
If they'd conducted this project in the southern United States, the family tree might be nearly as large, but it would look more like a yardstick.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
"It started to go downhill with the whole "lifehacker" meme."
You must be new here?
Operator, give me the number for 911!
As far as I can tell, his tree is not even based on DNA sequences..
"Think they all know each other?" - tai game mario
... we can't allow this data to get out!
Since when is "hacker" some sort of elite geek thing? Hacking is not about technology, it is an attitude. Applying the term to "everybody" is much older than you think. The earliest reference I have for it is from the primordial hacker himself, Richard Stallman, about 12 years ago. I am sure that there are much older references out there.
Well played, sir. Well played.