DNA testing my ancestry: Who am I?

CRIgenetics.com; Ashley Wells, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Once I was this then I became that, and here I am in the middle looking forward and back.

What can blood and microscopic strands tell us?

What do genes really tell us. I have a question: Who am I? Will CRIgenetics tell me or just make me cri (sic)?

Do I have the potential to survive among the Sámi/Sapmi, the indigenous Scandinavian people of Lapland (modern Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland)?

Will I mix well with a Latin lover? Should I even have children? Will I need a fertility clinic? Do I have to become to my mom and carry on the habits of this crazy family tree?

• A new kind of genetic testing? Go back up to 50 generations until we were all Black, Aboriginal, Out of Africa hominids crawling north. :)
• I think I might be Chinese: One of the Tocharians
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• My muddy, spectacular trek up Rwanda’s Mount Bisoke (outpostmagazine.com)

Greco-Afghan Scythian Buddha

The Buddha taught that we have been reborn so many times in so many places across the universe -- the "31 Planes of Existence -- and in so many social configurations that we rarely meet anyone we haven't already shared all relationships with.

It goes much deeper. If I identify with THIS body, who am I? For that the Buddha answered in ultimate terms (Abhidhamma), talking about the jiva (lifeforce or "impersonal soul" even if that appears paradoxical) and observable particles (kalapas/atoms) that make up our being.

What is DNA testing?

Venus figurine: womanhood in Old Europe

DNA testing looks at genes to identify sequences and chromosomes, designating racial lineage, national parentage, and ethnic heritage.

Its main use for mass consumers is to determine biological relatives, such as paternity testing (who the genetic mother and father are) or to broadly predict an individual's ancestry.

Epigenetics (above-genetics) matter more because they are the sets of instructions (at the top of strands) -- mediated by environment -- that turn expression of our genes on and off. We express part of what we have, but we do not have to express it. We can turn it on and off from the outside.

How does EPIGENETICS work? How do we tell the genes what to and not to express?

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If only I could see Mengele's notes, that'd be...

Genetic testing to assess relatedness or ancestry can also be used for selective breeding, as would have been valuable for American and Nazi eugenicists to determine "Aryan" purity and the race of relatives and to apply the 1/16th or single drop rule for Blackness.

Early forms of genetic testing began in the 1950s, involving counting the number of chromosomes per cell. In the 1970s, a method to stain specific regions of chromosomes, called chromosome banding, was developed that allowed more detailed analysis of chromosome structure and diagnosis of genetic disorders that involved large structural rearrangements.

In addition to analyzing whole chromosomes (cytogenetics), genetic testing has expanded to include the fields of molecular genetics and genomics which can identify changes at the level of individual genes, parts of genes, or even single nucleotide "letters" of DNA sequence. One study estimated that as of 2018 there were more than 68,000 genetic tests on the market.

Space: "Star Factory"

Combination of observations from the UK Infrared Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope is seen in an undated image. Part of a survey in which British astronomers spotted a star factory in the constellation Orion, it shows parts of the Orion Molecular Cloud being illuminated by nearby stars and glowing a green color. The jets punch through the cloud and can be seen as a multitude of tiny pink-purple arcs, knots, and filaments. The young stars that drive the jets are usually found along each jet and are colored golden orange (Reuters/UKIRT/JAC/Spitzer Telescope/Handout).

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(SPACE.COM) To commemorate almost two decades of photographing the wonders of the universe, the Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a peculiar group of interacting galaxies that contains a "cosmic fountain" of stars, gas, and dust that stretches about 100,000 light years. Over the past 19 years, Hubble has taken many images of galactic collisions and close encounters.

The new image of a trio of galaxies, called Arp 194, looks as if one of the galaxies has sprung a leak. The bright blue streamer seen in the image is really a stretched spiral arm full of newborn blue stars. This stellar activity typically happens when two galaxies interact and gravitationally tug at each other. More>>