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Discovering I am 4% Neanderthal was one of the strangest days of my life. Thanks 23andMe!

by thedogeye 5y ago

rvense 5y ago
Aren't all Europeans?
- rantwasp 5y ago
  it’s more like 1.5-2% typically
- tomjakubowski 5y ago
  Every continent has some Neanderthal DNA flowing around. Neanderthals were all over Eurasia, and some of their hybrid descendants moved to Africa. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/everyone-has-neanderthal-dna-in-their-genome-new-genetic-analysis-shows https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/everyone-has-n...
- danans 5y ago
  All non Sub-Saharan-Africans possess Neanderthal DNA, highest among some East Asian populations.
juskrey 5y ago
23andMe also thanks for your data
- dang 5y ago
  "Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
PicassoCTs 5y ago
And thank you random citizen, for offering the DNA of yours and your family + decedents to all insurance companies out there.
- raister 5y ago
  Naïvely speaking, 23andMe cannot trade your data to anybody...
  - koheripbal 5y ago
    They obviously cooperate with subpoenas they receive, and I would not ve surprised if a data breach happens at some point I wonder if there is an anonymous version of the service.
    - bpodgursky 5y ago
      There is absolutely no way an insurance company would risk using stolen genetic data to tweak their premiums. Would they love to buy the data legally? Of course. But they are not going to buy it off of Russian hackers.
  - PicassoCTs 5y ago
    https://www.businessinsider.com/why-gsk-invested-300-million-in-23andme-genetic-drug-discovery-collaboration-2018-7?r=DE&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/why-gsk-invested-300-million... They sell it to drug makers for studies.. and if they sell metadata to this pairing (drug + your id) this is a giveaway for inherited genetic diseases.
    - BurningFrog 5y ago
      It's hard for me to be upset at my data helping cure disease and save lives like this.
      - charia 5y ago
        It's very naive to assume it'll only ever be used for benevolent purposes. The situation the above commenter was bringing up was that in the near future your genetic information has a good chance of being used by insurance companies pre-judge you, your offspring and your relatives to raise or lower healthcare rates based on information found in that data.
ljf 5y ago
Snap I wonder how closely we are related?

Discovering I am 4% Neanderthal was one of the strangest days of my life. Thanks 23andMe!

rvense 5y ago

Aren't all Europeans?

rantwasp 5y ago
it’s more like 1.5-2% typically
tomjakubowski 5y ago
Every continent has some Neanderthal DNA flowing around. Neanderthals were all over Eurasia, and some of their hybrid descendants moved to Africa. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/everyone-has-neanderthal-dna-in-their-genome-new-genetic-analysis-shows https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/everyone-has-n...
danans 5y ago
All non Sub-Saharan-Africans possess Neanderthal DNA, highest among some East Asian populations.

juskrey 5y ago

23andMe also thanks for your data

dang 5y ago
"Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

PicassoCTs 5y ago

And thank you random citizen, for offering the DNA of yours and your family + decedents to all insurance companies out there.

raister 5y ago
Naïvely speaking, 23andMe cannot trade your data to anybody...
- koheripbal 5y ago
  They obviously cooperate with subpoenas they receive, and I would not ve surprised if a data breach happens at some point I wonder if there is an anonymous version of the service.
  - bpodgursky 5y ago
    There is absolutely no way an insurance company would risk using stolen genetic data to tweak their premiums. Would they love to buy the data legally? Of course. But they are not going to buy it off of Russian hackers.
- PicassoCTs 5y ago
  https://www.businessinsider.com/why-gsk-invested-300-million-in-23andme-genetic-drug-discovery-collaboration-2018-7?r=DE&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/why-gsk-invested-300-million... They sell it to drug makers for studies.. and if they sell metadata to this pairing (drug + your id) this is a giveaway for inherited genetic diseases.
  - BurningFrog 5y ago
    It's hard for me to be upset at my data helping cure disease and save lives like this.
    - charia 5y ago
      It's very naive to assume it'll only ever be used for benevolent purposes. The situation the above commenter was bringing up was that in the near future your genetic information has a good chance of being used by insurance companies pre-judge you, your offspring and your relatives to raise or lower healthcare rates based on information found in that data.

ljf 5y ago

Snap I wonder how closely we are related?