Tag Archives: genetics

White Paper: Genetic Mechanisms Behind Mixed Hair Pigmentation: Blonde Hair, Red Beards, and Multicolored Eyelashes

Executive Summary The coexistence of light (blonde/sandy) scalp hair, reddish facial hair, and mixed-pigment eyelashes is a well-documented and genetically coherent phenomenon. It results from: Polygenic control of pigmentation (multiple genes influencing melanin type and amount). Regional variation in gene … Continue reading

Posted in Musings | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

White Paper: The Central Role of Comparative Reference Frameworks in Online DNA Ancestry Testing

Executive Summary Online DNA ancestry testing services present themselves as tools for uncovering personal heritage through genetic analysis. However, the ancestry results they provide are not direct readings of genetic “origin” in any absolute sense. Rather, they are comparative inferences, … Continue reading

Posted in History, Musings | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

White Paper: Biblical “Giants” and Contemporary Genetics: Text, Physiology, Population Variation, and Myth

Executive summary Biblical texts refer to unusually large people and peoples—Nephilim, Rephaim, Anakim, and individual figures like Goliath and Og. Careful textual analysis suggests the Bible depicts exceptional but human-scale tallness, not fantasy-scale beings. Modern science explains unusual height through … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Biblical History, Christianity, History, Military History, Musings | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

White Paper: Tools and Technologies for Personalized Health and Nutrition

Executive Summary Personalized health and nutrition represents a paradigm shift from generalized dietary guidelines toward individualized interventions informed by genetic, epigenetic, and microbiome data. This paper explores the tests, applications, and equipment necessary to operationalize such precision nutrition, providing a … Continue reading

Posted in Musings | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Diabetes (Genes & Disease)

Diabetes (Genes & Disease), by Toney Allman When one deals with health in the contemporary world, it is natural ponder the relationship between genes and disease. In the case of Diabetes, there is a bit of contradictory information regarding the … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Social Life Of DNA

The Social Life Of DNA: Race, Reparations, And Reconciliation After The Genome, by Alondra Nelson It would not be hard to think of ways for this book to be appealing to someone like me, nor to think of audiences (not … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: A Short History Of Humanity

A Short History Of Humanity: A New History Of Old Europe, by Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe, translated by Caroline Waight About the only thing to fault this book on, and that probably isn’t the fault of the authors, who appear … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, History | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Before The Dawn

Before The Dawn: Recovering The Lost History Of Our Ancestors, by Nicholas Wade Though there are a lot of areas where I fault this book, I view this book with a certain degree of respect as well, and see it as … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, History | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Hips Don’t Lie

More than a decade ago, the Colombian singer Shakira had a massive hit with a song called “Hips Don’t Lie.” The premise of the song, to the extent that such a song needs a premise, is that the singer found … Continue reading

Posted in History, Music History, Musings | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

On The Missing Links Between Genetic Genealogy And Traditional Genealogy

One of the hobbies that I spend far more time doing than writing about is examining my genetic genealogical relationship to others. Sometimes this means finding out how I am a distant cousin to strangers whose family roots are immensely … Continue reading

Posted in History, Musings | Tagged , , | 2 Comments