Paternal and Maternal Lines

We men inherit the Y chromosome from our fathers who got it from their fathers. So the Y chromosome can be used to trace your paternal lineage. Different sequences of alleles and mutations can be assigned to haplogroups where a haplogroup signifies common descent on the uniparental line. According to my 23andme results, I belong… Continue reading Paternal and Maternal Lines

Inbreeding

I have found out I am actually from West Virginia. Ok, I am just joking. I knew that my family had a history of marriages among relatives. After all I have only 10 great-great-grandparents instead of the usual 16. With my genome in hand, I set about to quantify the inbreeding. First, I used David… Continue reading Inbreeding

Harappa Project New Site

As several people had asked, I have set up a separate website for the Harappa Ancestry Project at http://www.harappadna.org/. I am keeping a link to the new site on the top menu bar here titled Harappa DNA. I might also crosspost some items from the project here. I have also set up a Facebook page… Continue reading Harappa Project New Site

Harappa Ancestry Project

I have become interested (some would say obsessed) with genetics recently. I wrote about getting my DNA test done and there’s a lot more about my own results that I plan to bore you with. One fun application of genetic testing is inferring ancestry: Which ancestral group are you descended from? Can we estimate the… Continue reading Harappa Ancestry Project

Personal Genomics: DNA Test

Last year in April, 23andme were having a sale for DNA Day, selling their 550,000 SNP test with ancestry and health information for $99 instead of its regular price of $499 at that time. So I decided to take the plunge and sent my spit from the East coast to the West to be analyzed.… Continue reading Personal Genomics: DNA Test

Valentine Poems

Three days late, here are some poems in honor of Valentine’s Day. I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul. I love you… Continue reading Valentine Poems

Google Voice

I had been lusting after a Google Voice account for a while and finally got it a few months ago. To my disappointment, there was no way to port my existing phone number to the service, so I had to get a new number. At first, I was slow to give out my Google Voice… Continue reading Google Voice

Flashcards for Kindergarten

I am a parent, a nerd and love gadgets. So of course I had to create flashcards on my iPhone for my daughter to learn reading. My daughter is in Kindergarten right now and she’s learning to read. Her teacher sent us a list of 122 (Dolch) words that she will be learning to read… Continue reading Flashcards for Kindergarten

Now Watching Plugin

If you are wondering where I have been in the last three weeks, I have been busy. I had to transfer all the non-bloggy content of my website to WordPress. Since I do book and movie reviews, I started using the Now Reading Reloaded plugin for book reviews and links to Amazon. However, I couldn’t… Continue reading Now Watching Plugin

iTunes U and Podcasts

Since I got my iPhone, I have started listening to podcasts and courses put online by universities.