National Geographic has an interesting new project in the works called The Landmark Study of The Human Journey. The project analyzes your DNA and traces back your ancestors to the origins of where they started some 60,000 years ago in Africa. It doesn't matter if you live in Europe or North America, because your beginnings came from one specific origin.
The goal of the project is to map the appearance and frequency of genetic markers in modern people. The project is set out to create a picture of when and where the ancient humans moved around the world. However, they need sample testers to get this data. So guess how they do that? They sucker you into paying them money to get the evidence.
The end result will be you can see your ancient origins, but nothing all to detailed. You won't get any information that deals with your ancestors a few generations ago. But you will find out you are part of an area of descendants of a small group of Africans. Every part of our ancestors eventually moved from this small group of Africans to occupy even the farthest reaches of the Earth.
It's pretty hard to grasp we all came from the smallest group of descendants. I guess if you are willing to pay them to do something National Geographic should be paying you, then you can be part of this study too.
For now, I'm not too keen on providing them information they need for a fee. I think National Geographic does a great job into suckering you into thinking your getting a great deal. You know that ever so appreciated question of "What's in it for me?" But it's definitely something I might ponder in the future. And it's certainly a great Christmas gift for some people.
No comments:
Post a Comment