A new genetic test pinpoints your cavedwelling ancestry

Neanderthal Hermann Schaaffhausen

Till now, we've had to rely on guesswork based on our officemates' forehead bulges, receding chins, and subliterate grunts to gauge how much Neanderthal is in their ancestry. No more! 23andMe, the popular personal genomics company that analyzes your DNA based on a saliva sample, has added a test for Neanderthal percentage into their analytic suite.

The test compares the contemporary human genome to the Neanderthal genome to calculate what percentage of your own DNA comes from that branch of the family.

"Most people have Neanderthal DNA, on average about 2.5 percent," according to 23andMe. "But there are outliers, who have much more."

How do you stack up?

[23andMe]

17 Comments

What about people who don't have any Neanderthal DNA in them? What branch of the tree did they fall off of? If they don't have any Neanderthal DNA in them does that mean that their ancestry are skunk of lizard?

I have one word on this....bababooey.
just saying....

I know several people who are closely related to the nice looking gentleman in the picture. :)

What about the others that have 3rd party alien DNA?

.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense.
Religion sees beyond the senses.

I think this is pretty cool. Possibly why the rest of us have differential adaptable melanin production may be? Inherited from our neanderthal forebears?

African's are the only people who don't have neanderthal dna, the rest of us do.

Those who never left Africa do not have the Neanderthal genes--they never mingled. Judge that how you will.

Only the time machine has the true answers ;)

Why does this Neanderthal have a perfect hair cut and the rest of modern humans always need to get a cut and style? It seems all the natural animals have a nice natural style to their hair and we humans do not, go figure?

Are we really just dissatisfied peacocks and trying to doll ourselves up to catch a mate?

.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense.
Religion sees beyond the senses.

The people who don't have any Neanderthal DNA are generally Black Africans.

This brings up some interesting questions and I wonder how they would reflect in the historical record. How long did we intermingle? When did the last person who was more Neanderthal then human die? I would also like to know if there were other species we interbred with.

@jamesblimm

what about the Asian or American Indian?

I am so opposing to any holiday that is Black holiday, Christian holiday, Jewish holiday, Asian holiday, etc. While at first glance we are being supportive of other cultures, in the long run we are just making dividing lines and continue the segregation of society.

WE USA CITIZENS ARE ONE PEOPLE

I have poor writing skills. I wrote something longer above. Once again, some one from POPSCI edited my words on the fly and changed them. Of course, what they wrote is what I meant to say. But, my point is, it was edited and not by me.

I'm part native American, I believe its 1/8th. Anyway, how do I fit into this? Didn't Neanderthals in live only in eastern and central Europe, because according to wiki. it says so. I guess that makes me more human than all of you, hahahahaha!! >:D

" Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein

I am part American Indian, part Irish, part German, part silly, part smart, part ignorant, part funny, part husband, part father, part sentimental, part angry, part biological, part instinctive, part analytical, part emotional, part curious, part sleepy, part hungry, part alien, part animal, part metal, part veteran, part patriot, part USA citizen, part interested and yes part bored, part lover, part religious, part stubborn, partly wet on the inside and partly dry on the outside, part clothed, part not clothed, part open minded and many other more parts beyond this too.

Please do not shake me; I hate when my parts get mixed up. ;)

hahahahaha! Good joke PopSci.

The really burning question, of course, is how much of the genome of the typical Montanan is the same as a sheep.



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