IBM and National Geographic "Genographic Project"

[Ed Ziomek]

I wanted to share with the DesignCommunity viewers what many may already know, that of the IBM and National Geographic "Genographic Project".

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/gen ... ipate.html

They will take a DNA sample from you.... (mouth swab) and give you an idea of where your ancestors came from, and what migration paths they took.

I think the original intention was to map out indigenous tribes around the world, and if I could wave my magic wand, I personally would sample the 43 indigenous tribes known to be in the Valley of Mexico. Where did they come from?

I think Stamford University is compiling a map of the DNA diversities, and their migration paths.

An example of the results is on the "- abuse alert -" website...

http://- abuse alert -/index.php?showtopic=291

This particular result shows the "EurAsian Adam"
and the Haplogroup O(M175).

I find this to be fantastic information for all of us. Probably many of you already knew of this effort.

[Ed Ziomek]

With every good idea, there seems to develop a negative aspect to DNA testing.

It seems there is a developing idea that this DNA information could possibly be used against an individual, for health insurance risk reasons, for job employment risk purposes, etc.

In fact, as reported possibly in the New York Times, there was a company which performed secretive DNA testing on its employees, for unknown reasons, possibly health risk reasons...

I guess the moral is... there is a wonderful side of this project, and a privacy consideration involved... (who knew?... I think the idea is great.)

[Ed Ziomek]

The website link changed... or I copied it wrong.

Try...

www.nationalgeographic.com

then Search for "Genographic"

or try...

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/gen ... index.html

[Ed Ziomek]

I would like to share with this website another commercial DNA testing service which gives two interesting examples of DNA analysis, that of a Caucasian sample, and of an African American sample.

DNA Caucasian
http://www.dnatribes.com/sample-caucasian.html

DNA African-American
http://www.dnatribes.com/sample-africanamerican.html

DNA Testing Labs "DNA Tribes, Genetic Ancestry Analysis"
http://www.dnatribes.com/faq.html

"DNA Tribes Genetic Ancestry Analysis is a service that uses genetic material inherited from both maternal and paternal ancestors to measure your genetic connections to individual ethnic groups and major world regions. Your top ranked results indicate places where your blend of ancestry is most frequent and where your genetic ancestors left the strongest traces."

DNA Tribal Maps, a very interesting pdf e-book on this DNA subject.

http://www.dnatribes.com/sample-results ... nities.pdf

For your information.

[Ed Ziomek]

I am guessing, you may not believe your eyes. Simon Narramore, aka 62Lofu on Flickr, has taken a series of photographs of people in an area of Western China that almost look like whole families from Dublin or London or Glasgow. While they are certainly not Irish, they certainly LOOK Irish to me, and not surprisingly, they are located close to both the ancient spice route and the Gobi Desert areas.

As I have repeated many times, via ancient Celtic, Greek, and Judaic influences and ancestries that all our families have, some of our families went East, some went West, and these photographs are certainly proof.

Simon Narramore has given us an anthropological, historical, and visual gem, but unfortunately, I can't show you them directly!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonnarra ... 4139866858

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonnarramore/1722175826/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonnarramore/1722887710/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonnarra ... 522950493/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonnarra ... 522950493/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonnarra ... 522950493/

What a treasure!

As a sidenote, I am reminded, that in modern day Mexico there are a allegedly confirmed 175 ethnic indigenous tribes, some still speaking their original languages. Their racial characteristics, according to ancient "Aztecan and Mayan-era" manuscripts, varied from light colored to dark colored, from caucasian eyes to asian eyes, from bearded to clean shaven. In other words, all races, all colors, many languages.

I am proposing that ancient Mexico was not only the virtual geographic center of the western hemisphere, it was also a cultural Grand Central Station, and in addition, may have been a "DNA center" of sorts.

I hope I am saying this right, let me try...
In the National Geographic/IBM Human Genome Project, Dr. Spencer Wells seemed to confirm in his mind that while the "original Adam" may have come from Africa, the origin of the modernish "Alpha mankind sample" (my description) may have been in the central Asian area.

I may be wrong on this interpretation, but I believe he said that the origins of the Europeans, and the Greeks, and the Chinese, and the Asians, and the Amerindians probably came from one central asian location, sort of a Grand Central DNA station.

But meantime, please enjoy Simon Narramore's photographs from China, what I am calling the "Irishy Tribes of China".

This is an exceptional work of photography, and thank you Simon.

[Ed Ziomek]

I forgot to add that the headband and jewelry displayed in these photos show a close similarity to Incan embroidered graphics, and Amerindian jewelry customs.

[Ed Ziomek]

18 months after my last posting, I am revisiting the wonderous "Genome Project" with Spencer Wells, National Geographic, IBM, and originally Sears.

Spencer Wells lookup...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Wells

National Geographic lookups...
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
https://genographic.nationalgeographic. ... index.html

Many of the URL lookups in my original thread don't work anymore, but the story is still remarkable.

Need I tell anyone that the list of good television shows is very slim, yet I still manage a good view on Discovery, PBS, History Channel, etc.

The latest entry of "Best of Absolute Best Television" has to now include the PBS special "Faces of America" with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/

"The Harvard scholar turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans — professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, musician Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols, Her Majesty Queen Noor, television host/heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, actress Meryl Streep, and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi."

I didn't think anyone could out-perform National Geographic's and IBM's unique contribution to the study of humanity.

However, in just a slightly smaller way, Professor Gates has personalized how those billions of DNA data pieces links all of us as Americans, and ourselves.

And the commonalities are: We are all immigrants. We are all the same family through our ancestors. We are all connected.

Astonishing. Prize winning. Unprecedented. Epic Achievements

Congratulations to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and to PBS.

Faces of America.

[Ed Ziomek]

Well, made a mistake:

The Genographic Project is with Spencer Wells, National Geographic, and IBM.
https://genographic.nationalgeographic. ... index.html

The Genome Project, aka The Human Genome Project, is government funded...
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/H ... home.shtml

"Completed in 2003, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was a 13-year project coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. During the early years of the HGP, the Wellcome Trust (U.K.) became a major partner; additional contributions came from Japan, France, Germany, China, and others. "

One world, it's all great, thanks to all.