Investigative Genealogist Answers DNA Questions | Tech Support | WIRED

[00:00] I'm here to answer your questions from the internet. [upbeat music] "What's the most interesting discovery

[00:16] One that comes to mind is, and she didn't know it. with her parents at all.

[00:28] her biological parents through her DNA alone, because LL Cool J had been partly raised so it was very significant to discover

[00:43] that they were not his biological grandparents at all. just from A DNA sample?" in Investigative Genetic Genealogy,

[00:56] to when we're working with law enforcement, from their DNA alone. is inherited from all of your ancestral lines.

[01:11] And so if we can identify your ancestors then we can piece your family tree back together, who the DNA contributor is,

[01:25] we can start piecing their family tree back together, So if you share DNA with four people we know that's one piece

[01:40] and he must also be a descendant A Quora user asks, through genealogy tests like ancestry.com?"

[01:55] 23andMe, the three largest DNA databases, for using their services for criminal research.

[02:09] are owned by private for-profit companies, procedures and terms of service. and those services

[02:23] not for law enforcement to find criminals, have made a different decision. and DNA Justice have specifically decided

[02:37] and to help us identify violent criminals, and Jane Doe's are people who have died who have not been returned to their families.

[02:49] and we're not even allowed to use Over 54 million people but for law enforcement cases,

[03:03] and try to identify the contributor of that DNA. "What is your craziest DNA matches story?" The baby switch ones are probably the craziest to me.

[03:18] at all with their family tree, One is they were adopted but another one that we're actually finding many of,

[03:30] I have worked on dozens of those cases where people were switched at birth and lived a life intended for someone else.

[03:44] but we also have some cases was purposely switching out the babies.

[03:56] had a very ill baby, and a poor single mother for instance, Sometimes they would purposely switch those out

[04:12] to keep the rich customers happy. "What is genetic genealogy?" Well, genetic genealogy is the combination

[04:26] where you're tracing your ancestors back in time, So, DNA has been used for genealogical purposes

[04:38] and that really has helped to inform our genealogy. which means they can't get further back who your great-great grandparent is

[04:54] and you're unable to find the paper trail records So if you turn to DNA testing, that were formerly your brick walls.

[05:08] "What cases have been solved Well, over the last eight-years, have now been identified through genetic genealogy.

[05:21] solve over 400 of those cases One case that comes to mind She was walking to her friend's house

[05:34] and murdered by a man named John Miller, and I helped to identify him in 2018. that had been identified through genetic genealogy.

[05:50] he pled guilty to the crime and he ended up dying in prison. "Are Europeans really all descended from Charlemagne,

[06:04] The answer to that is yes! Charlemagne was the king of the Franks from 768 and he had at least 18 known children.

[06:17] it's actually true for any person who lived in the ninth century in Europe And that is because our tree grows exponentially

[06:31] to the point where we would have more ancestors at that point of time. we would've had over a billion ancestors,

[06:45] at that time in history. So any person living over a thousand years ago in Europe is actually the ancestor of all people

[07:00] And that would also be true, or any part of the world really, because our family trees grow out like this

[07:12] it's called "Pedigree Collapse", it looks more like a diamond. why it's often difficult to trace your lineage

[07:25] on your population group, because some places have much better records than others. For instance, if your ancestors are from Iceland,

[07:40] to trace your family tree back 30-generations. Or Switzerland has records going back over 700-years. to the 1400's on my Finish lines,

[07:55] and that is because they have such fantastic records. that either didn't keep records, For instance, in World War I,

[08:08] due to a severe shortage of paper, and used that raw material for other purposes. there may be scrolls that traced your family tree,

[08:24] back thousands of years. and to be able to find those. from the Southern United States,

[08:37] And so you might have family records as they're called, or if you have Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry for instance,

[08:51] during World War II. "Can someone explain the whole idea of ethnicity to me?" not to use the term "ethnicity"

[09:05] Instead we use terms like "Ancestral Origins" And that is because "ethnicity" someone's culture or traditions.

[09:20] in your family. And so "ethnicity" is more of a social term or "Biographical Ancestry"

[09:34] Now, ethnicity is used for these tests because it's easily understood by the public, but it's really not the most accurate term

[09:47] Potential-Stop-5998 asked, is his grandma's uncle, No, you don't have to be worried

[10:02] There have been many typically without issues. there's only about a 10% likelihood

[10:16] on offspring of that couple. that their parents were first-degree relatives, NeuralStardust asked,

[10:30] For example, the family tree Well, it depends which type of DNA you are utilizing. directly from mother to child.

[10:44] your mitochondrial DNA from your mother, and her mother, If you're using the Y-chromosome

[10:58] called "Y-Chromosomal Adam", that all of men descend from, to 300,000 years ago.

[11:13] and Chromosomal Adam were a couple, although they both did come from Africa, A Quora user asked,

[11:28] using high-tech sleuthing to help law enforcement solve a case And, the longest it has taken,

[11:43] I've been trying to identify a little girl and that is because she comes from

[11:55] of which we have less representation. that genealogical brick wall at the 1870 census, were not enumerated by name prior to that.

[12:11] "I'd bite the bullet they can trace my ancestry." not fossil DNA.

[12:24] can be traced back at least 150,000 years. is really inherited

[12:38] We have Genealogical Family Trees Genealogical Family Trees are all your ancestors Genetic Family Tree is just the people

[12:52] from all of our third great grandparents, But when you get further back in the tree, and so now you're only inheriting DNA

[13:09] EngineeringLumpy asks, So he's referring to the ethnicity portion And the reason that siblings

[13:24] is because they inherit different DNA on about 50% of the DNA. from both parents.

[13:37] where we inherit the same DNA from one parent, where we don't inherit the same DNA User MandoMonroe00 asks,

[13:51] but how accurate is it?" of the results you receive One of those is to find relatives,

[14:05] that someone is your relative, they are. I see a lot of people who think it's a mistake that says it is a half-sibling.

[14:19] that can never happen by mistake, that is a very close relative to you. is the ethnicity estimate,

[14:35] it is a developing science. what parts of the world you come from meaning the Americas versus Africa,

[14:48] That is relatively easy to do. very granular results, And that's because there's been so much migration

[15:01] "Do you realize how much DNA you share So with your first cousins, and your third cousins,

[15:15] and you might not share any DNA Well, that's all the questions we can cover today. [upbeat music]