Any forumites know about this. For a sum of money you submit a saliva sample which is analysed. I would be interested if a member could explain what possible results could be.

bucolic3401 said:

Any forumites know about this. For a sum of money you submit a saliva sample which is analysed. I would be interested if a member could explain what possible results could be.

You originated in Africa…

• I would be interested if a member could explain what possible results could be.

You are not the father…

I know it can link you to other members who have also had their saliva tested; you might find a sixth cousin you didn’t know about…

Other than that, I’ve heard it’s a crock of poo poo.

Looked up the website FAQ’s. Fairly comprehensive explanations.

Here’s a review. Bear in mind this was written by an enthusiast.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/ancestrydna-genetic-test-review-2016-3

Should have looked at website first before posting. Apologies.

poikilotherm said:

bucolic3401 said:

Any forumites know about this. For a sum of money you submit a saliva sample which is analysed. I would be interested if a member could explain what possible results could be.

You originated in Africa…

From Zulus.

bucolic3401 said:

Any forumites know about this. For a sum of money you submit a saliva sample which is analysed. I would be interested if a member could explain what possible results could be.

The idea is that it tells you that you are x% one nationality and y% another… this is of course, complete nonsense.

The best a DNA test can do it look for certain regional markers but even which this information there are only weak correlations to specific racial or ethnic groupings.

I already know I’m a mixture of north west, central and eastern European, and I would expect a DNA test to merely confirm that, without adding much if any detail.

diddly-squat said:

bucolic3401 said:

Any forumites know about this. For a sum of money you submit a saliva sample which is analysed. I would be interested if a member could explain what possible results could be.

The idea is that it tells you that you are x% one nationality and y% another… this is of course, complete nonsense.

The best a DNA test can do it look for certain regional markers but even which this information there are only weak correlations to specific racial or ethnic groupings.

Is this because the tests are inadequate for the task demanded or is it currently impossible to test for ethnic markers?

arvo folks

bucolic3401 said:

Any forumites know about this. For a sum of money you submit a saliva sample which is analysed. I would be interested if a member could explain what possible results could be.

I did an equivalent one with a company called 23andme in California. I sent a saliva sample over to them for a cost of only $99. The price has gone up to $149 now. I’ve never regretted it.

They found for me:

Percentage Neanderthal ancestry.
Distant origins in terms of fraction from each country and part of continent.
Recent ancestry matching my DNA against other participants to find third and fourth cousins and similar.
Medical check showing predisposition if any towards several hundred diseases with a genetic component.
Participation using surveys in Medical research, using my answers to help track down the genetic links to diseases, and appearance.

In addition, 23andme invited me to input my own family tree which linked in to a website with many thousands of other family trees.

I totally recommend it.
https://www.23andme.com/en-int/

stumpy_seahorse said:

arvo folks

Didn’t you sent your leg off to be tested instead of a mouth swab?

Witty Rejoinder said:

diddly-squat said:

bucolic3401 said:

Any forumites know about this. For a sum of money you submit a saliva sample which is analysed. I would be interested if a member could explain what possible results could be.

The idea is that it tells you that you are x% one nationality and y% another… this is of course, complete nonsense.

The best a DNA test can do it look for certain regional markers but even which this information there are only weak correlations to specific racial or ethnic groupings.

Is this because the tests are inadequate for the task demanded or is it currently impossible to test for ethnic markers?

It’s certainly possible to test for autosome markers, it’s just that there is a very weak correlation between these markers and things like “race” or “nationality”.

It’s just pidginholing, for the sake of pidginholing, in other words the test will tell you that you are x% of group a and y% of group b, but it’s then difficult to link that grouping to any rational ancestral path (especially given that populations around the world, especially the 1st world, are now so varied).

For all practical purposes, it is bogus.

dv said:

For all practical purposes, it is bogus.

We seem to have a fairly full sweep of opinions there.

All the way from bogus to crock of poo poo

All the way from bogus to crock of poo poo The best a DNA test can do it look for certain regional markers but even which this information there are only weak correlations to specific racial or ethnic groupings.

Both of dv and diddly are talking through their arses.

The reliability is absolutely blood marvelous. The markers give an absolute guide to where you sit in the distant family tree, because the same mutation didn’t happen twice. Therefore you can track down with reasonable certainty where in the world that mutation occurred.

Further, by research based on the testing, locations can be still better refined. I could give a specific example based on my own DNA where an initial assessment that I had a small amount of Balkan DNA was cancelled as better techniques were developed.

I am
100% European

65% British and Irish.
5.7% Scandinavian.
1.0% French and German.
24.8% Broadly Northwestern European.

0.6% Eastern European

< 0.1% Southern European

2.8% Broadly European

There are also genetic markers for Sardinian, North African, East African, Yakut, Korean and Ashkenazi Jewish and a dozen or so others.

The British & Irish with a bit of Scandinavian agrees exactly with my family tree.

mollwollfumble said:

All the way from bogus to crock of poo poo
The best a DNA test can do it look for certain regional markers but even which this information there are only weak correlations to specific racial or ethnic groupings.

Both of dv and diddly are talking through their arses.

The reliability is absolutely blood marvelous. The markers give an absolute guide to where you sit in the distant family tree, because the same mutation didn’t happen twice. Therefore you can track down with reasonable certainty where in the world that mutation occurred.

Further, by research based on the testing, locations can be still better refined. I could give a specific example based on my own DNA where an initial assessment that I had a small amount of Balkan DNA was cancelled as better techniques were developed.

I am
100% European

65% British and Irish.
5.7% Scandinavian.
1.0% French and German.
24.8% Broadly Northwestern European.

0.6% Eastern European

< 0.1% Southern European

2.8% Broadly European

There are also genetic markers for Sardinian, North African, East African, Yakut, Korean and Ashkenazi Jewish and a dozen or so others.

The British & Irish with a bit of Scandinavian agrees exactly with my family tree.

either you didn’t read my post or you are being deliberately belligerent – like I said, it’s possible to test for the presence of markers, it’s just that these markers aren’t very useful for the purposes of determining direct ancestry.

mollwollfumble said:

All the way from bogus to crock of poo poo
The best a DNA test can do it look for certain regional markers but even which this information there are only weak correlations to specific racial or ethnic groupings.

Both of dv and diddly are talking through their arses.

The reliability is absolutely blood marvelous. The markers give an absolute guide to where you sit in the distant family tree, because the same mutation didn’t happen twice. Therefore you can track down with reasonable certainty where in the world that mutation occurred.

Further, by research based on the testing, locations can be still better refined. I could give a specific example based on my own DNA where an initial assessment that I had a small amount of Balkan DNA was cancelled as better techniques were developed.

I am
100% European

65% British and Irish.
5.7% Scandinavian.
1.0% French and German.
24.8% Broadly Northwestern European.

0.6% Eastern European

< 0.1% Southern European

2.8% Broadly European

There are also genetic markers for Sardinian, North African, East African, Yakut, Korean and Ashkenazi Jewish and a dozen or so others.

The British & Irish with a bit of Scandinavian agrees exactly with my family tree.

ROFL

diddly-squat said:

mollwollfumble said:

All the way from bogus to crock of poo poo
The best a DNA test can do it look for certain regional markers but even which this information there are only weak correlations to specific racial or ethnic groupings.

Both of dv and diddly are talking through their arses.

The reliability is absolutely blood marvelous. The markers give an absolute guide to where you sit in the distant family tree, because the same mutation didn’t happen twice. Therefore you can track down with reasonable certainty where in the world that mutation occurred.

Further, by research based on the testing, locations can be still better refined. I could give a specific example based on my own DNA where an initial assessment that I had a small amount of Balkan DNA was cancelled as better techniques were developed.

I am
100% European

65% British and Irish.
5.7% Scandinavian.
1.0% French and German.
24.8% Broadly Northwestern European.

0.6% Eastern European

< 0.1% Southern European

2.8% Broadly European

There are also genetic markers for Sardinian, North African, East African, Yakut, Korean and Ashkenazi Jewish and a dozen or so others.

The British & Irish with a bit of Scandinavian agrees exactly with my family tree.

either you didn’t read my post or you are being deliberately belligerent – like I said, it’s possible to test for the presence of markers, it’s just that these markers aren’t very useful for the purposes of determining direct ancestry.

Not unless perhaps numerous family members also have it done both living and dead

diddly-squat said:

mollwollfumble said:

All the way from bogus to crock of poo poo
The best a DNA test can do it look for certain regional markers but even which this information there are only weak correlations to specific racial or ethnic groupings.

Both of dv and diddly are talking through their arses.

The reliability is absolutely blood marvelous. The markers give an absolute guide to where you sit in the distant family tree, because the same mutation didn’t happen twice. Therefore you can track down with reasonable certainty where in the world that mutation occurred.

Further, by research based on the testing, locations can be still better refined. I could give a specific example based on my own DNA where an initial assessment that I had a small amount of Balkan DNA was cancelled as better techniques were developed.

I am
100% European

65% British and Irish.
5.7% Scandinavian.
1.0% French and German.
24.8% Broadly Northwestern European.

0.6% Eastern European

< 0.1% Southern European

2.8% Broadly European

There are also genetic markers for Sardinian, North African, East African, Yakut, Korean and Ashkenazi Jewish and a dozen or so others.

The British & Irish with a bit of Scandinavian agrees exactly with my family tree.

either you didn’t read my post or you are being deliberately belligerent – like I said, it’s possible to test for the presence of markers, it’s just that these markers aren’t very useful for the purposes of determining direct ancestry.

Not unless perhaps numerous family members also have it done both living and dead

diddly-squat said:

mollwollfumble said:

All the way from bogus to crock of poo poo
The best a DNA test can do it look for certain regional markers but even which this information there are only weak correlations to specific racial or ethnic groupings.

Both of dv and diddly are talking through their arses.

The reliability is absolutely blood marvelous. The markers give an absolute guide to where you sit in the distant family tree, because the same mutation didn’t happen twice. Therefore you can track down with reasonable certainty where in the world that mutation occurred.

Further, by research based on the testing, locations can be still better refined. I could give a specific example based on my own DNA where an initial assessment that I had a small amount of Balkan DNA was cancelled as better techniques were developed.

I am
100% European

65% British and Irish.
5.7% Scandinavian.
1.0% French and German.
24.8% Broadly Northwestern European.

0.6% Eastern European

< 0.1% Southern European

2.8% Broadly European

There are also genetic markers for Sardinian, North African, East African, Yakut, Korean and Ashkenazi Jewish and a dozen or so others.

The British & Irish with a bit of Scandinavian agrees exactly with my family tree.

either you didn’t read my post or you are being deliberately belligerent – like I said, it’s possible to test for the presence of markers, it’s just that these markers aren’t very useful for the purposes of determining direct ancestry.

Not unless perhaps numerous family members also have it done both living and dead

For balance, in contrast to mollwolfumble’s views, please check out the opinion of the scientific community on this matter:

http://www.livescience.com/7384-genetic-ancestry-tests-hype-scientists.html
https://skeptoid.com/blog/2015/08/18/dna-tell-ancestry/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9912822/DNA-ancestry-tests-branded-meaningless.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/02/12/466379200/can-you-tell-your-ethnic-identity-from-your-dna

It’s also important to remember that many of the genealogy sites like Ancestry.com provide services specifically for Mormons – which in itself suggests some level of woo-woo-ness

diddly-squat said:

It’s also important to remember that many of the genealogy sites like Ancestry.com provide services specifically for Mormons – which in itself suggests some level of woo-woo-ness

It’s supposedly so you can identify ancestors who haven’t heard the word and are in second tier level heaven and if they become a Mormon get to first tier heaven

dv said:

For balance, in contrast to mollwolfumble’s views, please check out the opinion of the scientific community on this matter:

http://www.livescience.com/7384-genetic-ancestry-tests-hype-scientists.html
https://skeptoid.com/blog/2015/08/18/dna-tell-ancestry/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9912822/DNA-ancestry-tests-branded-meaningless.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/02/12/466379200/can-you-tell-your-ethnic-identity-from-your-dna

For even better balance, look up some of the 5,640 scientific papers spawned by the genetic testing done by 23andme.

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

For balance, in contrast to mollwolfumble’s views, please check out the opinion of the scientific community on this matter:

http://www.livescience.com/7384-genetic-ancestry-tests-hype-scientists.html
https://skeptoid.com/blog/2015/08/18/dna-tell-ancestry/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9912822/DNA-ancestry-tests-branded-meaningless.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/02/12/466379200/can-you-tell-your-ethnic-identity-from-your-dna

For even better balance, look up some of the 5,640 scientific papers spawned by the genetic testing done by 23andme.

I bet they’re all about what ancestry those users have…

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

For balance, in contrast to mollwolfumble’s views, please check out the opinion of the scientific community on this matter:

http://www.livescience.com/7384-genetic-ancestry-tests-hype-scientists.html
https://skeptoid.com/blog/2015/08/18/dna-tell-ancestry/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9912822/DNA-ancestry-tests-branded-meaningless.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/02/12/466379200/can-you-tell-your-ethnic-identity-from-your-dna

For even better balance, look up some of the 5,640 scientific papers spawned by the genetic testing done by 23andme.

You could find a million of them, it wouldn’t change the scientific consensus that these tests are not meaningful for individuals.

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

For balance, in contrast to mollwolfumble’s views, please check out the opinion of the scientific community on this matter:

http://www.livescience.com/7384-genetic-ancestry-tests-hype-scientists.html
https://skeptoid.com/blog/2015/08/18/dna-tell-ancestry/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9912822/DNA-ancestry-tests-branded-meaningless.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/02/12/466379200/can-you-tell-your-ethnic-identity-from-your-dna

For even better balance, look up some of the 5,640 scientific papers spawned by the genetic testing done by 23andme.

You could find a million of them, it wouldn’t change the scientific consensus that these tests are not meaningful for individuals.

“An idée fixe is a preoccupation of mind believed to be firmly resistant to any attempt to modify it, a fixation.”

mollwollfumble said:

The markers give an absolute guide to where you sit in the distant family tree, because the same mutation didn’t happen twice. Therefore you can track down with reasonable certainty where in the world that mutation occurred.

FALSE

lol