Ancestry

. Right now, you can get one of the best DNA test kits on the market for 50% off its original price of $199. 23andMe's three-step test kit can help you discover how the specific sequences in your DNA might impact your future. For example, the Health and Ancestry kit looks at how your DNA might affect your chances of certain health conditions, including diabetes, atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, migraine, Alzheimer's disease, and more.The kit can also examine your lifestyle factors to determine lactose…

The 10-year-old gene-editing tool known as CRISPR is indispensable for engineering plants, tailoring lab animals, and probing basic biology. But there’s a caveat when it is used to tweak human genes: Unlike lab mice, which are usually inbred and genetically identical, people’s genomes differ individually and by ancestry. These ancestry differences mean CRISPR doesn’t always edit some genomes as intended, particularly in people of African descent, whose genomes…

Sacheen Littlefeather, the activist who famously stood in for Marlon Brando to refuse the best actor Oscar in 1973, faked Native American ancestry, her family have said.In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Littlefeather’s sisters Rosalind Cruz and Trudy Orlandi said that their sister’s claim to have Apache and Yaqui ancestry through her father was “a lie” and “a fantasy”.Orlandi told the Chronicle: “It’s a lie. My father was who he was. His family came from Mexico. And my dad was born in Oxnard .” Cruz added: “It…

People like to know where their food comes from, but even experts are throwing up their hands when it comes to the origins of the modern banana. An extensive genetic analysis of more than 100 varieties of wild and cultivated bananas unpeels the fruit’s tangled history of domestication and reveals the existence of three previously unknown—and possibly still living—ancestors. Banana experts want to track down those mysterious forebears to see whether their genes…

We might not get another Apple event this year.While Apple was initially expected to hold an event to launch its rumored M2-equipped Macs and iPads in October, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicts Apple will announce its new devices in a series of press releases, website updates, and media briefings instead.I know that it probably takes a lot of work to put these polished events together, but if Apple does pass on it this year, I will kind of miss vibing to the livestream’s music and seeing all the new products get presented.…

But this is far from the first time family members’ genetic material has been used to put names to unidentified remains. Scientists around the world have used DNA to identify missing persons and victims of war, genocide, and natural disasters. The International Commission on Missing Persons, or ICMP, a nongovernmental organization based in The Netherlands, has conducted several DNA profiling efforts, including in the Western Balkans, to identify Muslim men and boys killed in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide during the Bosnian…

There’s something irresistible if slightly solipsistic about researching your own ancestry. Thanks to digitised and searchable records, all the frustrating blanks in your family tree can now be enticingly fleshed out. Sometimes those blanks will reveal something remarkable and dramatic, but as any fan of BBC One’s Who Do You Think You Are? will attest, even the mundane tales can be strangely touching.Simon Mawer, Booker-shortlisted for The Glass Room in 2009, now enters this arena with his new novel (his word). Composed…

According to a new study, the ancestry of dogs can be traced to at least two populations of ancient wolves. Credit: Jessica Rae PetoAn international group of geneticists and archaeologists has discovered that the ancestry of dogs can be traced to at least two populations of ancient wolves. The research moves us a step closer to uncovering the mystery of where dogs underwent domestication, one of the biggest outstanding mysteries in human antiquity.Dogs are known to have descended from the gray wolf, with this…