The South African Khoe-San communities are no strangers to exploitative research. One research team is trying to provide genetic ancestry results to community members. But they still face many challenges.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Ancestry
Displaying 1 - 20 of 21 articles
How we’re linking together genetic material from thousands of people - modern and ancient - to trace our ancestors and the history of our evolution.
Using a technique called admixture mapping, researchers can leverage the diversity of people with mixed ancestry to look for hard-to-find genetic risk factors for diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.
New analysis of Anglo-Saxon skulls suggests that being an Anglo-Saxon was a matter of language and culture, and not genetics.
Christine Jessop was murdered in 1984 and, 36 years later, DNA evidence finally identified her killer. But the police investigation’s use of genetic genealogical databases raised questions about privacy.
It is a good time to ask how the travel and tourism industry has contributed to racism and how that can change.
Through science, art and technology, we are able to reconstruct the faces of the dead based on their remains. The researcher who did this work for descendants in Sutherland explains the process.
Canadian audiences did not object to Ancestry’s ad which romanticized Canada as “Promised land,” but they should have.
Before you attribute a trait to a famous ancestor like George Washington or Marie Antoinette, you might want to see how much DNA you actually share with these people. It’s not what you thought.
Estimating our ancestry is hard – because our backgrounds are much more mixed up than we thought. So don’t take your DNA ancestry test results literally: they’re just a prediction.
DNA testing is helping reveal people’s unknown royal ancestry.
The question of whether a person can “become” Aboriginal after discovering ancestry through a DNA test is more complicated in Australia.
The results of genetic ancestry tests are grossly over-simplified. A new study shows the tests reinforce what you want to believe rather than offering objective, scientific proof of who you are.
More people are sending off saliva samples to find out about their genetic roots. But the raw DNA results go way beyond genealogical data – and could deliver unintended consequences.
Ancestry and identity are not the same thing. A scientist tells the story of what happened when he sent his DNA to an ancestry company.
Online genetic testing promises many things. Some are the stuff of fantasy, while others, even if scientifically feasible, still carry risks. Consider these five things before ordering a test.
The current craze to search for our ancestry is complicated and paradoxical. We want to know we are connected – yet we crave to be unique. Moral white panic is also involved and so is big business.
Trying to save Neolithic rock art made by our ancient ancestors is no easy task. But it tells us how people used to live.
Do you own your own genetic data? The future of genomic databases is almost here, and now is the time to figure out how we are going to allow this information to be used.
Modern sabre-tooth mammals have their canines constantly on display. This allows them to seduce mates. But was sexual selection also an important phenomenon among our pre-mammalian ancestors?
Top contributors
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Research fellow, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Anthropology, Deakin University
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Professor of English, York University, Canada
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Research Fellow, Deakin University
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ARC Laureate Fellow, University of Adelaide
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UNSW Sydney
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Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Zoology, University of Otago
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Canada Research Chair in Human Evolutionary Studies, and Professor of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University
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Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior, University at Buffalo
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Senior Researcher in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Visual/forensic artist, PhD researcher, Liverpool John Moores University
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Research fellow, The University of Queensland
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Ethical, Legal & Social Adviser - Public Health Genomics, Monash University
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Head, Public Health Genomics Program, Monash University
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Reader in Heritage Studies, Newcastle University
