Am I Left-handed or Right-handed? 23andWe Wants to Know.
Why does 23andWe want to know? It's for their featured research project titled "Handedness".
According to 23andMe, little is known about why people become left-handed or right-handed. They think they can help the science community figure out what genetic component is linked to handedness by polling the 23andMe community and comparing their answers against their [...]
23andMe Unveils 23andWe
23andMe just sent out an email announcing the launch of 23andWe. Awwwww another cute name.
The concept behind 23andWe is pretty simple: They provide me with easy, fun questions in survey form and I get to see how my answers compare to the rest of the 23andMe community. At the same time, 23andMe is correlating my [...]
Just Downloaded a File Containing my Raw Genome Data. Now What? (Updated)
I've downloaded plenty of mp3 files to my desktop over the years, but I've never downloaded a file containing my raw, uninterpreted genome data. Until today.
23andMe lets you download a zipped, text file containing 500,000+ lines of your genotype call data. It's all the raw, uninterpreted data they pull from your saliva.
All. on. [...]
Visualization of My Genetic Similarity to People Around the World
Here is a cool visualization of my genetic similarity to groups of people from around the globe. The longer the bar the greater my genetic similarity to people from that region.
As you can see, I'm most similar to people from Northern Europe in the 23andMe visualization.
Here is how my genetic similarity to different global regions [...]
How Heart Attack and Other Four Star-Rated Topics Relate to My DNA, Part 2
23andMe's Gene Journal let's you see how your DNA data "relates to ongoing research in health and physical traits".
They provide their own 1-4 star rating beside each Gene Journal topic letting users know how much research backs each specific topic and how much the general scientific community has accepted the research.
For instance, Heart [...]
Fun with Y Chromosomes: Exploring my Paternal Ancestry
On my dad's side of things it appears that I belong to the R1b1c haplogroup, which is the most common haplogroup in western Europe.
If you want to get more specific, it looks like I'm part of the R1b1c9a branch.
23andMe says,
"Today R1b1c9a is found mostly on the fringes of the North Sea in [...]
Look Ma, I’m in Newsweek
Make sure you pick up a copy of Newsweek this week.
The one with this cover (April 21, 2008 Issue):
Claudia Kalb did a great write-up of all the new-fangled personal genome services that have been popping up lately, like deCODEme, Navigenics and 23andMe (that's the one I did), and how they're being marketed.
The article is [...]
Fun with mtDNA: Exploring my Maternal Ancestry
From my mom's mom to my mom to me. That's how mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) likes to travel. You can see how it's helpful in determining maternal ancestry.
My mtDNA determines that I belong to the PreHV maternal haplogroup (It sounds so all-encompassing, right?).
More specifically, I guess I'm part of daughter branches H and V, [...]
How Breast Cancer and Other Four Star-Rated Topics Relate to My DNA, Part 1
When you go into 23andMe's Gene Journal, a place I've been frequenting a lot lately, you can view how diseases like Age-related Macular Degeneration apply to your own DNA.
Each disease, condition etc is given a research confidence rating from 1-4 stars. A topic with four star rating means that they are "widely accepted by [...]
Sharing My DNA Results
Lot's of people have been asking me if I got any interesting or bad news in my genetic profile. There's a handful of data packed into my genetic profile and I haven't yet gotten through all of it.
I think it would be a lot easier to just share my genome results with you guys [...]
I pretend to have a real job, by which I mean I started my own company. 
