Category Archives: Transhuman News

A British scientist says he may have solved the mystery of the Abominable Snowman the elusive ape-like creature of the Himalayas. He thinks it's a bear.

DNA analysis conducted by Oxford University genetics professor Bryan Sykes suggests the creature, also known as the Yeti, is the descendant of an ancient polar bear.

Sykes compared DNA from hair samples taken from two Himalayan animals identified by local people as Yetis to a database of animal genomes. He found they shared a genetic fingerprint with a polar bear jawbone found in the Norwegian Arctic that is at least 40,000 years old.

Sykes said Thursday that the tests showed the creatures were not related to modern Himalayan bears but were direct descendants of the prehistoric animal.

He said, "it may be a new species, it may be a hybrid" between polar bears and brown bears.

"The next thing is go there and find one."

Sykes put out a call last year for museums, scientists and Yeti aficionados to share hair samples thought to be from the creature.

One of the samples he analyzed came from an alleged Yeti mummy in the Indian region of Ladakh, at the Western edge of the Himalayas, and was taken by a French mountaineer who was shown the corpse 40 years ago.

The other was a single hair found a decade ago in Bhutan, 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the east.

Sykes said the fact the hair samples were found so far apart, and so recently, suggests the members of the species are still alive.

Original post:
DNA Links Mysterious Yeti to Ancient Polar Bear

PROVO, UT--(Marketwired - Oct 17, 2013) - Ancestry.com DNA, LLC announced today an update to its popular DNA test. Armed with one of the most comprehensive collections of location based DNA samples from around the world and the latest DNA testing technology, AncestryDNA now maps a test taker's ethnic origins to 26 global regions, including expanded regions for people of European and West African descent.

"We are rapidly advancing DNA testing for family history," said Dr. Ken Chahine, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AncestryDNA. "The greatest benefit of this test is that it provides an easy way to help explore one's ancestral background and discover your family's past in amazing detail never before available."

Whether you're just getting started researching your family history or you are an advanced genealogist tracking down a specific portion of a family tree where records are going cold, the new update to AncestryDNA can help people explore their ancestry beyond historical records.

The new update to AncestryDNA includes:

"Five years ago, a genealogical DNA test would predict the rough proportions of a person's ancestry from Europe, Asia, or Africa -- but most people could determine that without the aid of a DNA test," said Dr. Catherine Ball, Vice President of Genomics and Bioinformatics for AncestryDNA. "Today, the AncestryDNA science team has examined more than 700,000 DNA markers to create a genetic portrait for groups of people around the world. By comparing someone's DNA to this core reference set, we can calculate an ethnicity estimate based on 26 global populations."

Updates to AncestryDNA Further Advances Family History Exploration

Last year, with the initial launch of AncestryDNA, a test taker was able to receive results that mapped back to 22 different ethnic regions. Today's announcement marks an expanded range of genetic ethnicity and geographic origins that is currently not available in other consumer DNA tests on the market.

In May 2012, Ancestry.com launched AncestryDNA, a service that analyzes a person's genome at more than 700,000 marker locations. It is available at http://www.ancestrydna.com for $99, plus shipping and handling. The price includes a DNA testing kit, genetic lab processing, online results delivered in a private and secure account, as well as continual ethnicity and cousin matching updates. Additional information on AncestryDNA can be found at http://www.ancestryDNA.com.

About Ancestry.com DNA LLC and Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com DNA is a subsidiary of Ancestry.com, the world's largest online family history resource with approximately 2.7 million paying subscribers across all its websites.More than 12 billion records have been added to the Ancestry.com sites and users have created more than 50 million family trees containing more than 5 billion profiles.In addition to its flagship site http://www.ancestry.com, the Company operates several Ancestry international websites along with a suite of online family history brands, including AncestryDNA, Archives.com, Fold3.com and Newspapers.com, all designed to empower people to discover, preserve and share their family history.

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AncestryDNA(TM) Now a More Comprehensive DNA Test for Exploring Ethnic Origins

They called it a family reunion, but for most, it was actually their first meeting.

Charlotte resident Vivian Y. Stuart had spent years communicating with cousins across the country she had never met. They discovered as adults they share a DNA match, and their relationships solidified through a mutual love of family history and countless phone calls, emails and Facebook posts.

So last month, Stuart opened her home to six of her distant cousins so they could get to know more about each other and their shared history.

Extended family

Stuart, 65, moved to Charlotte from New York in 2010. A retired clinical laboratory technologist Stuart became interested in her genealogy back in the 80s and is her familys historian.

In 2010, she had a DNA test done to see whether there were any family members she didnt know. The first test was through the National Geographic Genographic Project. But it was through Family Tree DNA that Stuart found a match. She had sent in a cheek swab for the mtDNA test, which uses mitochondrial DNA to find genetic cousins along the direct maternal line.

The match was the Rev. Dan W. Tullis Sr., who lived in California and had DNA on his mothers side that matched Stuarts. She sent an email to establish contact and got a reply from his daughter, Dwainia, that Tullis had died in 2009.

Stuart and Dwainia Tullis, 57, shared an interest in family history and began communicating regularly. Dwainia Tullis had also done a DNA test through the Genographic Project and gotten her results in 2006. The results had already led her to another cousin, Sara McNary, 48, in Atlanta, and cousin Sylvia Payne-Goodner, 62, in Franklin, Ky. While they dont know how closely they are related, Stuart said, their DNA all matches to Dan Tullis.

For the past three years these four family historians have stayed in contact. The more they got to know one another, the more family they found, Stuart said.

Since then, shes been able to connect with three more cousins who also came to visit, all with a DNA match to Dan Tullis Sr., Dwainias father.

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DNA match helped lead to family reunion