Ancestry.com To Add DNA Test Results

Spamicles writes "For less than $200 and a cheek-swiped cotton swab, you will soon be able to add DNA results to family tree Web sites. Ancestry.com plans to launch the DNA testing product by the end of summer, offering customers the possibility of finding DNA matches in the site's 24,000 genealogical databases. By taking a simple cheek-swab test and comparing results against DNA profiles in a test-results database, virtually anyone can uncover genealogical associations unimaginable just a few years ago. Users can easily connect with and discover lost or unknown relatives within a few generations, as well as gain insight into where their families originated thousands of years ago."

This has been available for a while

[niceone]

This has been available for a while at www.fbi.gov. Users can easily connect with and discover lost or unknown crimes they have committed, as well as gain insight into the legal system and prison food.

I hate the relatives I have

[east coast]

Why would I want to find out that I have more?

Wow

[purduephotog]

I was pretty interested in the service that would trace your genetic heritage- race, country of origin (or percentage, etc)- it would have been fascinating. My uncle has mapped his side of the family (1/2 mine) back to the 1400's... so this extra step would be incredible to combine with.

Then... there's the privacy aspect. But just because I didn't do anything, yet, doesn't mean....

It'll be interesting to see.

Re:Possibly overlooked..

[clickclickdrone]

>wouldn't it be nice to find out the DNA of your neighbours?
Some of mine are pretty sweet, I'd like to give them some DNA if you know what I mean.

Re:Why exactly

[Anonymous Coward]

I know that it would be worth $200 to show this kind of info at my family reunion.

".. and now to Uncle Patrick, who will be pleased to know that he isn't his father's son. Indeed with further investigation I found out that the real father is of Russian descent! I find this amusing given his tight ties in the local Irish community ..."

Yeah, it'd be a right scream.

Re:Worst idea ever

[suv4x4]

Here's most of it (you can select other chromosomes for downloading through that interface):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mapview/seq_reg.cgi?ta [nih.gov] xid=9606&chr=1&from=1&to=247249719

The rest is just a matter of a few million mutations scattered throughout the genome. Oh, and the bits of the genome that are proving to be very difficult to sequence.

That's like painting a DELL white and calling it "Macintosh". No candy for you.

Re:This is going to be interesting

[WrongSizeGlass]

I'd be happy to share it, but would probably be banned for life from here for the language I'd use.

Dad!? You post on /. too?

Re:What??

[JWSmythe]

    Fell out of a tree?

    Landed in a volcano in a spaceship that looked like a DC3?

    Descendants of the arc?

    There are so many stories. Pick one. No, pick two, keep it interesting. :)

Let me be the first to do the obligatory joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Luke, I am your father.

That's IMPOSSIBLE!

No, really. Check out this link.

NOOOOOOO!!!!!

That reminds me of a joke I read some moons ago

[vivaoporto]

A married couple went to the hospital to have their baby delivered. Upon their arrival, the doctor said he had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother's labor pain to the father. He asked if
they were willing to try it out. They were both very much in favor of it. The doctor set the pain transfer to 10% for starters, explaining that even 10% was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before.
But as the labor progressed, the husband felt fine and asked the doctor to go ahead and bump it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20% pain transfer. The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor checked
the husband's blood pressure and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this point they decided to try for 50%. The husband continued to feel quite well. Since the pain transfer was obviously helping out the wife considerably, the husband encouraged the doctor to transfer ALL the pain to him. The wife deliverer a healthy baby with virtually no pain. She and her husband were ecstatic.

When they got home, the mailman was dead on the porch.

You insensitive clod...

[Dareth]

My wife and I are trying to have a baby... only our mail carrier is female.... I don't have any backup!

Re:This has been available for a while

[kalirion]

IANAL, but I'm guessing that they could request your DNA from ancestry.com, and if the site refused to turn over results, they could probably get a subpoena as long as they were able to show reasonable cause. But this would be no different than getting DNA directly from you, which is much cleaner in terms of the chain of evidence.

Or they could just ask RIAA to borrow their pretexting experts.

Another revenue source

[jkro]

> For less than $200 and a cheek-swiped cotton swab, you will soon be able to add DNA results to family tree Web sites.
And for an additional fee of $10,000 you will get a proof that your political opponent is a bastard

This reminds me...

[Anonymous Coward]

...of the mid 90s when my friend was surfing the net and asked me what my SSN was.
Me: "Why do you want to know that?"
Him: "There's this website that will tell you who had your SSN before you did."
Me: "There's no way in HELL I'm giving you my SSN to put on a random website."

But I'm sure plenty of sheeple DID give their SSNs to that site and that plenty will give up their DNA to this website/business. Some things never change.

Altogether now... in three-part harmony...

[dpbsmith]

Oh, I can only imagine the mischief this will potentially cause... as people discover, not just ancestors they didn't know they had, but ancestors they thought they had, but don't.

"So the years went by and he wished he was dead. He had seventeen girls and still wasn't wed.
When he'd ask his papa, papa would always say, 'No! That girl is your sister but your mama don't know!'

"So he went to his mama and he bowed his head. Told his mama what his papa had said.
His mama said, 'Son, go, man, go! Your papa ain't your papa but your papa don't know!'"

--"Ah Woe, Ah Me," Nick Reynolds, Bob Shane, John Stewart, popularized by the Kingston Trio

"She's the illegitimate daughter, of the illegitimate son, of the illegitimate nephew of Napoleon."

--Ira Gershwin, _Of Thee I Sing+