{"id":2394,"date":"2005-04-16T00:44:00","date_gmt":"2005-04-16T04:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yummy-wakame.com\/archives\/2005\/04\/16\/\/"},"modified":"2016-10-11T04:43:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T04:43:47","slug":"the-genographic-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/2005\/04\/the-genographic-project\/","title":{"rendered":"The Genographic Project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/pics\/dna.jpg\" alt=\"DNA helix\" class=\"oldblogthumb\" \/>&#8220;Scientists have begun an ambitious five-year project to collect DNA samples from more than 100 000 people around the world to use them to create a virtual family tree of the genetic connections among humans.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www5.nationalgeographic.com\/genographic\/\" rel=\"external\">The Genographic Project<\/a> has assembled an international team of scientists at 10 locations under the auspices of the National Geographic Society and IBM to better understand how modern humans migrated from their ancestral home in Africa. The aim is to create the largest-ever database of human genetic information.<\/p>\n<p>The core of the Genographic Project is a field effort to collect 100 000 samples from indigenous communities around the world. Those communities are &#8220;absolutely key to the success of this project,&#8221; Wells said, because their genetic markers are the most reliable indicators of shared human lineage, and because their cultures are under threat from migration and intermixing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The society also is selling DNA sampling kits for $99.95 on its <a href=\"http:\/\/www5.nationalgeographic.com\/genographic\/\" rel=\"external\">website<\/a> with proceeds to go toward educational and cultural efforts in indigenous communities.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At Wednesday&#8217;s news conference announcing the project&#8217;s launch, project leader Spencer Wells offered examples of how the project could enrich human knowledge, with the assistance of indigenous volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>Mongolian native Tumur Battur learned that he was a descendant of famed Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan, courtesy of previous research that had discovered genetic similarities among ethnic groups along Genghis Khan&#8217;s path across Asia. &#8220;I was so excited,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Phil Bluehouse, a Navajo from the US state of Arizona, broke down in tears when Wells traced his genetic origins to Mongolia, confirming an instinct he had since childhood. &#8220;It&#8217;s always been something that was in me, and finally I was able to say &#8216;yeah&#8217;,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what else to say. It&#8217;s wonderful.&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/www5.nationalgeographic.com\/genographic\/\" rel=\"external\"><\/a>&#8221; <em>~&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/cooltech.iafrica.com\/science\/432514.htm\" rel=\"external\">iafrica.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Scientists have begun an ambitious five-year project to collect DNA samples from more than 100 000 people around the world to use them to create a virtual family tree of the genetic connections among humans. The Genographic Project has assembled an international team of scientists at 10 locations under the auspices of the National Geographic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[212],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogalog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yummy-wakame.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}