Anyone find something funny in their DNA test?

Quote: Wizard

I took a DNA test several years ago. It was mainly to confirm or deny that I'm 1/128 American Indian, something rumored to be the case in the family tree. The test denied it. It came back 100% northern European, which I expected.

I'm deeply skeptical of any result showing 100% anything when it comes to genetics.

These tests are a scam.

"..these ancestry tests have little scientific backing, and are often so unreliable and inaccurate that they amount to "genetic astrology."

But they appeal to peoples egos,
so they're a huge success.

Quote: odiousgambit

I wonder how reliable the tests are.

If you don't mind the expense, just apply to several. Or have a another family member send something to a different one.

Quote: rxwine

If you don't mind the expense, just apply to several. Or have a another family member send something to a different one.

What I am referring to is the skepticism that surrounds these places that do it, EB came across a good quote.

Quote: odiousgambit

What I am referring to is the skepticism that surrounds these places that do it, EB came across a good quote.

Because my sister had her name changed I can send one in under a different name. She already did one, I'm suppose to do one eventually.

How much do you think they will differ?

If your genetic profile differed much from your known family history, what would that mean?

Quote: Nareed

If your genetic profile differed much from your known family history, what would that mean?

Idle curiosity. My grandfather died 36 years ago. I just assumed his grandparents were all Arab. If one of them was Scandinavian it doesn't really change anything.
Joseph Albert Elias, 1913 - 1981.

Quote: rxwine

How much do you think they will differ?

I think they will come up with much the same thing, that's not my point.

I would guess they have the integrity to be going by *something*. I don't think they are making things up out of whole cloth, although on the other hand I'm sure no one is offered any money back because they couldn't come up with something that didnt make a lot of sense. Apparently it was noticed geographic regions tend to have genetic markers, however mysterious, so why not let the public find out what theirs are suggested to be? But if there aren't reliable markers for race, how reliable are markers for regions? It could be a suggested Scandinavian proportion is a false positive, for instance.

Police and prosecutors have learned that the mystique over DNA is very powerful in court, and there have been abuses. Likewise you learn from some outfit that you seem to come from asia more than you thought, say; well the instinct seems to be "wow, DNA is never wrong" instead of "wonder how they came up with that when ..."

Quote: Pacomartin

My mother suspects a Scandinavian snuck into the Syrian-Lebanese family in the mid 19th century. She had aunts with red hair and other distinctly non-Arabic features. Mother also talks about the Viking contact with the Arabs, but that was so long ago that it seems impossible that they would leave a significant percentage of DNA in someone born circa 1960.

Classifier programs for genes and drug interaction develop 14 categories, about as close as anyone can come to a "race". East Africa males and Norwegian genes still affects drug dosages. I was once in a chat room and a visitor listed her 'full plate' of disease conditions and my first question was " are you of Norwegian heritage".. turns out she was.

Best answer for race was the geneticist who wrote "Human".

Look up the advice given by Moral Progressives advocating avoidance of Mixed Foods by Whites in 1890-1930 and you will find 66 races were recognized at the time. Absurd.

The "Sea People" were four princes who conducted invasions into the Levant near the time of the Bronze Age their identities were determined only recently from a translation of a frieze found in Turkey centuries ago.

The tests can show reliably where your
parents came from, kind of, but from
your grand parents back, it gets really
murky. There are thousands of cases
where people have the records of
their family that goes back hundreds
of years and the testing got it
completely wrong. It's very much
like astrology. Hit or miss.

The commercials for it are hilarious.
A guy thinks he great grandfather
was a famous Italian barber and
testing shows he was German. How
would they know, Germany and Italy
are a couple hundred miles apart.
They make it look like they can be
that accurate and it's not possible.