Genography

[Arpa]

Cover story of this week’s Newsweek;

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11080815/site/newsweek/

 

The more I read the article the more I had this feeling that the whole thing feels like alchemy rather than science, or “voodoo science” at best.

So many references to as how many are discovering that they may have Jewish ancestry, not only that but connected to the Cohanim, the priestly dynasty base on the first so called Rabbi, Aaron, brother of Moses.

I will not dwell much on hat except that , as above I could not help buy feel that this whole thing og genotyping , and as the article calls “genography”, a play on words to mean the recording and reading of DNA-s but also a play on “geography”. One also wonders how some people may jump on the bandwagon and try to prove how they have lived on certain lands for tens of thousands of years. I’m sure you know who and what I mean.

However one paragraph caught my fancy, below;

 

DNA testing is forcing some people to rethink their identities. Phil Goff, 42, of Naperville, Ill., thought his heritage was pure English, but a Y chromosome test matched him at least partially to Scandinavia. Now he wonders if he has any Viking blood in him. Alvy Ray Smith, 62, uncovered roots tracing back to the Puritans in 1633. "It was astonishing," says Smith, who thought his closest relatives were Irish potato farmers. "It gave me a whole different model of myself." Nick Donofrio, executive VP of innovation and technology at IBM, which is partnering with National Geographic on the Genographic Project, is a proud Italian. He was stunned when his Y test came back saying he was a member of haplogroup J2, meaning his ancestors had lived in the Middle East some 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. "You could have pushed me over with a feather," he says. After Donofrio announced his results on IBM's Web site, his in box started filling up with J2 colleagues. "A lot of Armenians have been sending me e-mails saying 'J2 rocks!' "