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The Genographic Project (Have Your DNA Checked, Find Your Roots)
National Geographic - IBM ^ | 6-15-2005

Posted on 06/15/2005 11:34:14 AM PDT by blam

The Genographic Project

Public participation, including yours, is critical to the Genographic Project's success.

Here's how you can get involved:

Purchasing a Public Participation Kit will fund important research around the world—and open the door to the ancient past of your own genetic background.

With a simple and painless cheek swab you can sample your own DNA. You'll submit the sample through our secure, private, and completely anonymous system, then log on to the project Web site to track your personal results online.

This is not a genealogy test and you won't learn about your great grandparents. You will learn, however, of your deep ancestry, the ancient genetic journeys and physical travels of your distant relatives.

To insure total anonymity you will be identified at all times only by your kit number, not by your name. There is no record, no database that links test results with the names of their contributors. If you lose the kit number there will be no way to access your genetic results.

As your own genetic ancestry is revealed you'll also see worldwide samples map humankind's shared genetic background around the world and through the ages.

If you'd like to contribute your own results to the project's global database you'll be asked to answer a dozen "phenotyping" questions that will help place your DNA in cultural context.

This process is optional and completely anonymous, but it's also important. Each of us has a part in the ancient story of humankind's genetic journey. Together we can tell the whole story before it's too late.

Order a Kit The Participation Kit costs U.S. $99.95 (plus shipping and handling and tax if applicable). The kit includes:

1. DVD with a Genographic Project overview hosted by Dr. Spencer Wells, visual instructions on how to collect a DNA sample using a cheek scraper, and a bonus feature program: the National Geographic Channel/PBS production The Journey of Man. 2. Exclusive National Geographic map illustrating human migratory history and created especially for the launch of the Genographic Project. 3. Buccal swab kit, instructions, and a self-addressed envelope in which to return your cheek swab sample. (You can download a pdf of instructions or the consent form. You will need Acrobat Reader.) 4. Detailed brochure about the Genographic Project, featuring stunning National Geographic photography 5. Confidential Genographic Project ID # (GPID) to anonymously access your results at this Web site

The purchase price also includes the cost of the testing and analysis—an expensive process—that will take place once your sample is sent in.

Return Your Kit Once you have completed the cheek scraping process, you will secure the scrapers inside the transport tubes, sign the informed consent form and mail the tubes and form off to the lab.

That's it! In about 4 to 6 weeks—the time necessary for the laboratory to correctly analyze your DNA—your results will be ready. In the meantime, visit the Web site to see where your sample is in the analysis process.

Get Your Results Samples will be analyzed for genetic "markers" found in mitochondrial DNA and on the Y chromosome. We will be performing two tests for the public participants:

Males: Y-DNA test. This test allows you to identify your deep ancestral geographic origins on your direct paternal line.

Females: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). This tests the mtDNA of females to identify the ancestral migratory origins of your direct maternal line.

To be clear—these tests are not conventional genealogy. Your results will not provide names for your personal family tree or tell you where your great grandparents lived. Rather, they will indicate the maternal or paternal genetic markers your deep ancestors passed on to you and the story that goes with those markers.

Once your results are posted, you will be able to learn something about that story and the journey of your ancestors. The genetic profile you receive is more than a static set of data. It is like an ongoing subscription to your genetic history. Your profile might become more detailed as the Genographic Project amasses more data from around the world, so be sure to return to the Genographic Project Web site for project updates.

Public participation is critical to the Project's success. By purchasing a Genographic Project Public Participation Kit, you will not only contribute to the impact of this great endeavor, but you may discover something about your own genetic past as well.

A Note on Privacy To ensure the privacy of participants, we have built an anonymous analysis process. Your Participation Kit will be mailed with a randomly-generated, non-sequential Genographic Participant ID number (GPID). Although we will have mailed a Participation Kit to your address, we do not know the random code included in the Kit. When you send in your DNA sample with your consent form, they will only be identified by your GPID. Therefore, your cheek cells will be analyzed completely anonymously.

In order to access your test results, you will need to access the Genographic Project Web site and enter your GPID, so it is very important that you do not lose your GPID. See the Genographic Project Terms and Conditions for more information. Also, be sure to visit our FAQs.

For International Participants (outside the United States and Canada) Public participation may be restricted in some countries where the export of genetic material requires government approval. China is one country that has such restrictions in place. The Genographic Project will work with the relevant authorities to achieve the broadest level of public participation possible.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: archaeology; checked; dna; genealogy; genetics; genographic; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; project; roots; youdna
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This looks interesting to me.

For more info, click on and go to the site.

1 posted on 06/15/2005 11:34:15 AM PDT by blam
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To: SunkenCiv

GGG Ping.


2 posted on 06/15/2005 11:34:54 AM PDT by blam
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To: blam

My roots are black. Don't need DNA testing to tell me that. A quick glance in the nearest mirror will suffice ;o)


3 posted on 06/15/2005 11:35:37 AM PDT by LIConFem (A fronte praecipitium, a tergo lupi.)
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To: blam
How timely!

OPRAH: My DNA Says I'm A Zulu (we're not making this up!)

4 posted on 06/15/2005 11:36:38 AM PDT by Constitution Day (Locked. Reason: Pain in the ass.)
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To: blam

If I turn up Albanian-Slavic my parents better have some answers.


5 posted on 06/15/2005 11:36:54 AM PDT by Semper Paratus
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To: blam

What if you're a mongrel like me? I suspect they coerce the results into the closest match they can find. But that doesn't mean it reflects reality.


6 posted on 06/15/2005 11:38:05 AM PDT by Joe Bonforte
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To: blam
Order a Kit The Participation Kit costs U.S. $99.95

If I ran for office I would get my roots traced for free.
7 posted on 06/15/2005 11:38:33 AM PDT by HEY4QDEMS (Who owns this car with the peace sign, the mag wheels, and four on the floor?)
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To: Semper Paratus
If I turn up Albanian-Slavic my parents better have some answers.

LOL. I think I'd just better not check this out.

8 posted on 06/15/2005 11:39:26 AM PDT by Bahbah (Something wicked this way comes)
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To: blam
How many Father's Days are going to be spoiled when the adult Flannery O'Flanagan calls up the homes of his senior citizen parents, Conan & Margaret O'Flanagan, and says 'hey, my DNA test shows I'm 1/2 Mexican! How the heck did that happen, Mom?" ;-)
9 posted on 06/15/2005 11:39:28 AM PDT by HitmanLV
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To: Constitution Day
"How timely!"

LOL. That post reminded me that I wanted to post this.

I've already cross linked them.

10 posted on 06/15/2005 11:39:54 AM PDT by blam
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To: blam

I have my kit already (coolest birthday present ever, IMO). Just need to swab my cheek and send it back in.


11 posted on 06/15/2005 11:40:50 AM PDT by Betis70 (It's all fun and games till someone gets impaled with a Javelin)
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To: blam; CobaltBlue; Pharmboy

Just got my results today!

Y chromosome traced to Haplogroup O (genetic marker M175).


12 posted on 06/15/2005 11:42:09 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: blam

:)
I'd love to do this.

BTW:
I really enjoy your posts, blam. I nearly always read them.


13 posted on 06/15/2005 11:42:22 AM PDT by Constitution Day (Locked. Reason: Pain in the ass.)
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To: Joe Bonforte
What if you're a mongrel like me? I suspect they coerce the results into the closest match they can find. But that doesn't mean it reflects reality.

I'm no expert here, but you direct paternal line can only come from one ethnic group, right? And your direct maternal line can also come from only one group too, right?

14 posted on 06/15/2005 11:43:16 AM PDT by 68skylark
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To: blam
I know exactly the place where all my grandparents are from and I know the name of the place. Those people lived there for thousands of years. The last invasion in that place was Tamerlane (middle 1400's) and I have always wondered how much genetic stuff was exchanged at that time.

If the thing didn't cost so much, I would like to see if their analysis squares with the family information and if the invasion left its 'mark'.
15 posted on 06/15/2005 11:43:52 AM PDT by SMARTY
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To: blam
To insure total anonymity you will be identified at all times only by your kit number, not by your name. There is no record, no database that links test results

Return Your Kit Once you have completed the cheek scraping process, you will secure the scrapers inside the transport tubes, sign the informed consent form and mail the tubes and form off to the lab.

Aren't those two statements contradictory? How can I sign my consent form without identifying myself?

I love these "trust me" articles that make no sense.
In case you're wondering why I never trust so-called scientists.

16 posted on 06/15/2005 11:45:03 AM PDT by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are ignorance, stupidity and hydrogen)
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To: HitmanNY

LOL!!!


17 posted on 06/15/2005 11:45:05 AM PDT by RightWingMama
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To: blam
NO NINETY NINE BUCKS TO NAT. GEO.! Not Now - Not Ever.

The present crowd running that operation are a far cry from the Grosvenors. From Global Warming to "The Rain forest Is Dying", the journalists are firmly committed to activist journalism.

NO MONEY FOR SOCIALISTS! !
18 posted on 06/15/2005 11:46:43 AM PDT by GladesGuru ("In a society predicated upon liberty, it is essential to examine principles)
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To: LIConFem

I care more about where I am going than where I have been.


19 posted on 06/15/2005 11:47:18 AM PDT by HitmanLV
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To: martin_fierro

Doesn't this information correspond to a geographic coordinate? Isn't that the most important thing in tracking the movement of populations?


20 posted on 06/15/2005 11:47:22 AM PDT by SMARTY
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