Who really sailed the Ocean Blue in 1492?

Who really sailed the ocean blue in 1492?
Spanish scholars are on a mission to demystify Christopher Columbus's life, long shrouded in a veil of mythic heroism.
By Lisa Abend and Geoff Pingree | Correspondents of The Christian Science Monitor

MADRID – Genovese nobleman or Catalan pirate? Adventurous explorer or greedy tyrant? What if the Italian gentleman who discovered America was in fact a brutal torturer and slave owner? And what if he wasn't even Italian?

Schoolchildren may learn about a daring hero who proved the Earth wasn't flat, but because his biography is pocked with holes, Christopher Columbus is a figure around whom elaborate theories and enigmatic rumors have long circulated. This year, the 500th anniversary of his death, two Spanish scholars are working to clear up some of the mysteries.

José Antonio Lorente, a geneticist at the University of Granada, is attempting to resolve one of the greatest enigmas - the question of Columbus's origins. In 1927, Peruvian historian Luis Ulloa Cisneros claimed Columbus was from Catalonia - in what is today northwestern Spain - rather than from the Italian port city of Genoa.

Continued at http:// www.csmonitor.com/2006/1017/p05s01-woeu.html?s=hns

Readers surveyed on software, DNA

Readers surveyed on software, DNA
By James M. Beidler
Lebanon Daily News

Several times since “Roots & Branches” first debuted in 1998, the column has surveyed readers on what genealogy software packages they use and why.

Since it’s been some time since the readers were last asked about this — here’s your chance to weigh in on what products you are using. Just send an e-mail (preferably with your name and city and state of residence) to james@beidler.us

But, in addition to the software survey, I’m also asking readers to write me if they have joined genealogy’s “DNA revolution” in any way.

Continued at http://www.ldnews.com/columns/ ci_4500801

A road, and Web, map to finding heritage

A road, and Web, map to finding heritage

The Norman Transcript

— There is so much interest in DNA testing in family research that every genealogical magazine I subscribe to has an article telling me everything I ever wanted to know about the process.

The Family Tree Magazine for October 2006 has a good article titled "Adventures in Genetic Genealogy," written by Maureen A. Taylor. Lots of definitions were included for the various tests, however the more I read the more confusing it all sounds. I did know that to check my paternal line I must use my brother's DNA, and my mother's paternal line can be proven by using her brother's DNA.

According to the above article, the Family Tree DNA site has the only public database of mtDNA test results. That Web site is www.mitosearch.org. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the genetic material mothers pass on to their children. The cost of this test begins at approximately $129, but can be as expensive as $495 for the mt Full Sequence test.

The mtDNA test can identify our ethnic and geographic origins and this can be our recent ancestors as well as those in the distant past. If you have Native-American ancestry in your lineage this can be identified down to five major groups. In researching this test I found the definitions for Eve's Daughters at www.duerinck.com/migrate.html.

Continued at http://www.normantranscript.com/features/local_story_287004922? keyword=secondarystory

FTDNA Press Release about new lab and new tests

Breakthroughs in Genetic Research for Genealogy
Thursday October 12, 9:30 am ET
Family Tree DNA's New Houston-Based Lab to Offer Latest in DNA Testing for Genealogy Purposes, Including First X-Chromosome DNA Tests

HOUSTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Family Tree DNA, whose growing array of DNA tests for genealogical purposes has established them as the world leader in genetic genealogy, will introduce ground-breaking new X chromosome tests (X-STR) in early October. The X-STR tests are the first ever available for genealogy applications by focusing on linked "haplotype blocks" which are inherited intact over several generations. This test will be processed locally at the company's recently established Genomic Research Center. Headed by Thomas Krahn, whose German-based DNA-Fingerprint company was recently merged into Family Tree DNA, the state of the art Genomic Research Center is located at Family Tree DNA's Houston, Texas headquarters.

Continued at http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061012/dath002.html?.v=72

Scanning African American Genomes

Monday, 9 October 2006 Scanning African American Genomes Topic: Genetics

Scientists at Boston University's center for genetics and genomics and Howard University are searching for genes associated with obesity, hypertension and "metabolic syndrome" in African Americans.

It's the first genome-wide scan of an African American cohort, according to a press release from Affymetrix, the company supplying its GeneChip technology to perform the work.

Affymetrix says the resulting data will be free and available to anyone, as part of its Affymetrix Control Program.

Continued here: http:// blog.wired.com/biotech/2006/10/scanning_africa.html

Video here: http://www.affymetrix.com/userForum/news/collaborations/ChristmanVideo.uf

Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation's Newsletter

The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation has published Issue 1 of Molecular Connections, its newsletter. It can be read on the web at http://www.smgf.org/newsletter.jspx?id=1.

Britain's Human History Revealed

Britain's human history revealed:
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News, Norwich

Eight times humans came to try to live in Britain and on at least seven occasions they failed - beaten back by freezing conditions.

Scientists think they can now write a reasonably comprehensive history of the occupation of these isles.

It stretches from 700,000 years ago and the first known settlers at Pakefield in Suffolk, through to the most recent incomers just 12,000 years or so ago.

The evidence comes from the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project.

This five-year undertaking by some of the UK's leading palaeo-experts has reassessed a mass of scientific data and filled in big knowledge gaps with new discoveries.

The project's director, Professor Chris Stringer from London's Natural History Museum, came to the British Association Science Festival to outline some of the key findings.

What has been uncovered has been a tale of struggle: "In human terms, Britain was the edge of the Universe," he said.

Continued at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5317762.stm

So you reckon you're Scots?

"Scientist's gene test traces Pictish roots

By Dean Herbert

HELP is at hand for the millions of people around the world who claim to be Scottish.

A new test will be able to prove if that's just wishful thinking or if someone really has a Caledonian connection.

A leading scientist has developed a "Scottishness" test that searches people's DNA to trace their origins.

Geneticist Dr Jim Wilson is offering the £130 diagnosis, which determines how Scottish people are."

Continue reading here:
So you reckon you're Scots?

DNA Shoah Project

Further details are now available about a project to use DNA to identify victims of the Holocaust:

"The DNA Shoah Project strives to establish a genetic database of those who lost family during the Holocaust. A DNA database can help identify those victims who were murdered by the Nazi regime and/or who died because of wartime-related issues and are buried throughout Europe in unmarked and mass graves. Most of the 6 million Jews who were murdered were not cremated but buried after their death. In many cases, DNA can be obtained from the bones of these victims when they are disinterred. Remains of Holocaust victims continue to surface throughout Europe because of continual land development and until this project, there is no means to positively identify the victims. Establishing the DNA database now will begin a process that will carry far into the next millennium. The DNA Shoah Project can also serve to unite loved ones and further establish closure for families who have missing relatives. The database is being created to assist European governments in the identification of victims and will not be used for any other purpose."

Continued at http://www.dnashoah.info/

DNA and Jamestown Anniversary project

A Press Release from Relative Genetics and Genealogy/Found: "

Partnership Looks to Link Millions Genetically and Historically

This partnership combines genealogy, family history and DNA genetics to link nations and people in celebrating “America’s 400th Anniversary” There is a possibility of 145,000,000 descendants.

Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) August 1, 2006 -- Heirlines Family History & Genealogy is merging genealogy with modern science. It has teamed up with Relative Genetics and GenealogyFound to show that after 400 years millions of Americans can trace their family tree back to the Jamestowne colony and Colonial Virginia. DNA testing and genealogical research is combining to help Jamestown descendants jump the pond and find their immigrant origins from Europe and other nations.

The year 2007 marks the 400th anniversary of the original Jamestown settlement -- the first permanent English colony in what is now the United States of America. Heirlines, Relative Genetics, and GenealogyFound are using traditional genealogy along with genetic genealogy to link millions of living people to their roots in that 17th Century colony. They are building a public database of Jamestown and 17th Century Colonial Virginia descendants that will be available beginning in 2007."

Continued at site above.