Comments on: Another person falls for DNA test snake oil

By: Chief Reebok Chan

Chief Reebok Chan — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 14:27:43 +0000

Uh, is this moron claiming that Native Americans are not Asian? That’s HIS idiotic mistake, not the DNA tests, then. We all know through archaeology (and now genetic testing) that most Native Americans today came from Asia through repeated migration waves by boat and the Ice Age land bridge ~12,000 years ago. The very “first” ones probably being Austronesians, perhaps from Taiwan, ~50,000 years ago.

I know it’s the mainstream press, but can a NYT columnist really be THAT stupid?

By: NuSapiens

NuSapiens — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 13:54:12 +0000

Virtually no scientific or medical test is 100% accurate. What tests like these can deliver - right now - is ballpark figures. Confusing East Asian with Native American really isn’t so odd - since people commonly make the same mistake with their eyeballs. (This is speaking about real Native Americans, not 1/16th bloods or Hollywood “Indians” played by Italians)

And the test written about in the New York Times does not consider uniparental nonrecombining loci - it takes a sample of autosomal markers. With some luck, these are basically representative - when the mix is recent, that is more likely than not.

By: Danni

Danni — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 05:56:35 +0000

THANK YOU FOR COMMENTING ON THIS!
I was having a long conversation with a friend about this just a few days ago.

his confusion about asian-ness? It’s native american. They passed over on the berring (sp?) straight.

research is important. So it knowing what you’re saying.
Though, the overall idea of the article is admirable; though cliche.