Genomics FTW

 I remember as a graduate student in genetics discussing with fellow grad students the possibility that the human genome would one day be sequenced, and all the benefits that would flow from that achievement. To us at the time, this goal seemed remote, long after we were dead and gone. In the event, we not only have an excellent human reference genome, but whole genome sequencing now costs about $1000 (I paid $199 for mine, since there’s an after market for de-identified genome sequences).

One of the many cool consequences of human genomics is testing hypotheses about the peopling of the planet. In this case, the hypothesis was that Native Americans descended from the Jomon people of Japan. Genomics falsified that hypothesis. This tickles my interests in genetics, genomics and history:

“These people (the Jomon) who lived in Japan 15,000 years ago are an unlikely source for Indigenous Americans. Neither the skeletal biology or the genetics indicate a connection between Japan and the America," Scott added.

"The most likely source of the Native American population appears to be Siberia.”

https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/native-americans-are-not-who-we-thought-they-were-study-finds/?fbclid=IwAR0GdgcAexE7SGoztwnvxID5ZrDm8cGb2WMuhuT0E2B0O5wK9-O5x7HkPWI