There is a growing interest among mainstream consumers to learn more about who they are and where they came from. The good news is that DNA tests are no longer reserved for large medical research teams or plot lines on CSI. Now, the popularity of direct-to-consumer (DTC) DNA tests is making self-discovery a reality, and is leading individuals to learn more about their genetic ethnicity and family history.
But it isn’t all roses. There is a joke among the genetic community that you can get your DNA sequenced for $1,000, but it will cost $1,000,000 to interpret it. DNA is complex. And while scientists have deciphered the alphabet that makes up the billions of letters of our genome, we know woefully little about its vocabulary, grammar and syntax.
Read the full, original story: DNA and the Masses: The Science and Technology Behind Discovering Who You Really Are
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Additional Resources:
- DNA Test Showed Mostly European Ancestry? It’s OK, You’re Still African American, Root
- A family affair: How genetic mixing has affected us all, Independent
- The science taboo: There may be genetic realities to race, but not along the lines we expect, National Post
