Genome Hacker Uncovers 13-Million-Member Family Tree 61
ananyo writes "Using data pulled from online genealogy sites, a renowned 'genome hacker' has constructed what is likely the biggest family tree ever assembled. The researcher and his team now plan to use the data — including a single uber-pedigree comprising 13 million individuals, which stretches back to the 15th century — to analyze the inheritance of complex genetic traits, such as longevity and facial features. In addition to providing the invitation list to what would be the world's largest family reunion, the work presented by computational biologist Yaniv Erlich at the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting in Boston could provide a new tool for understanding the extent to which genes contribute to certain traits. The pedigrees have been made available to other researchers, but Erlich and his team at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have stripped the names from the data to protect privacy."
Did anyone else read Gnome Hacker? (Score:5, Funny)
I did.
There's gotta be a joke in here somewhere... (Score:4, Funny)
"Think they all know each other?"
nah, too lame.
"Booking a venue for the reunions must be a bitch."
eh, not any less lame.
"I wonder how many of them slept with each other."
More icky than funny, but so far the best I've got.
Re:Source material is unreliable (Score:4, Funny)
" in some historical periods it would not have been uncommon for some children to be biologically unrelated to either of their legal parents"
historical periods? Don't you ever watch the Maury Povich show?