DNA sequencing can already tell us a lot about our ancestors—but now, a new technique developed by an international team of scientists reportedly allows them to pinpoint a person’s geographical origin—going back 1,000 years.
The Geographic Population Structure (GPS) tool beats previous best attempts to tie location to DNA. It claims to track populations back to the islands or villages they descend from, with a 98 percent success rate, compared to within about 500 miles for old methods.
The term “GPS”is a terrible acronym for this technique, as it has nothing to do with the very popular Global Positioning System millions of people call GPS. In this case, GPS stands for Geographic Population Structure.
You can learn more in an article by Jamie Condliffe in the Gizmodo web site at http://gizmodo.com/dna-sequences-can-trace-your-ancestors-to-within-30-mil-1571773851 and the accompanying video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aap-s1kle4Q.
(Dick Eastman)
