May 05 2012
Today is Cinco de Mayo. This day commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France in the Battle of Puebla (not Mexican independence day as is commonly believed), but is more widely observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. There are different ways to celebrate Mexican culture — fiestas [...]
May 02 2012
Today’s post is by Ancestry Ambassador Tim Janzen. “Many American families have a family legend that they have a Native American ancestor in their family tree. My family is no different.”
Apr 23 2012
In this post, Ancestry Ambassador Andrea Badger takes us through her journey investigating Jewish ancestry in her family and how 23andMe’s tools allowed her to uncover evidence supporting a family legend.
Apr 16 2012
In this post, Ancestry Ambassador Ann Turner describes her quest to determine the cause of a form of hearing loss that runs in her family. Her search spans genealogical documents from the 1890s to genetic testing of living relatives. Clues from 23andMe may yet unearth the genetic culprit.
Aug 19 2011
Not all the discoveries made on 23andMe are quite as profound as Neil Schwartzman finding his half-sister and mother, but even when 23andMe’s Relative Finder links distant cousins together those connections can still be electric. Gerald Lopez, a customer who found a fourth or fifth cousin and information about his mixed ancestry, said it was [...]
Jan 17 2011
Do you have your father’s eyes or your mother’s curly hair? Do you have trouble drinking milk, or flush when you drink alcohol? Many traits such as eye color, alcohol flush, and the texture of your hair are determined—at least in part—by genetics. Learning about them also helps make genetics more real. We can observe [...]
Dec 14 2010
“Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” That statement used to be a popular way to characterize the practice of medicine, back in the golden age of pharmaceuticals when drugs were seen as the answer to all problems. These days, we know that the picture is more complicated — some conditions remain stubbornly [...]
Dec 07 2010
While many health conditions are complex and influenced by a combination of genetic and non-genetic factors, others follow a much simpler pattern where disruptions (or “mutations”) in a single gene can directly cause disease. These diseases are often referred to as Mendelian diseases, named after the monk (Gregor Mendel) who discovered the concept of genes [...]
Dec 03 2010
Type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, multiple sclerosis — out of the nearly 200 reports 23andMe currently offers covering common and complex diseases, there are at least a few you have heard of. This familiarity is part of the reason why the Disease Risk reports are one of 23andMe’s most talked-about features. But looking at the [...]
Dec 01 2010
My health overview. Click to enlarge! Unless you have a specific health topic in mind, you’ll most likely want to begin by browsing your health results to see what your genetics say about you. Your gateway to all things Health at 23andMe is the Health overview (click on the blue “My Health” link on the [...]
