For centuries, scientists have sought a biological method for tracing a person’s geographic origin. Now, a group of researchers has developed such a genetic ancestry test that can pinpoint the location where a person’s ancestors originated more than 1,000 years ago.
The genetic algorithm accurately predicts the country of ancestral origin for about 80 percent of people, and for isolated island populations, it can predict people’s island or even village of origin in some cases, researchers reported April 29 in a study published in the journal Nature Communications.
A person’s DNA contains more than simple instructions — it also tells the story of their evolution, migrations, interbreeding and mixing, said study leader Eran Elhaik, a population geneticist at the University of Sheffield in England.
Read the full, original story: New Genetic Test Reveals Your Ancestral Origin
