"Is Oprah Zulu?"

'Genetic Ancestry Testing' is now a very popular method for those trying to find out more about their heritage for a variety of reasons. Many of these tests give seemingly definitive statistics for the percent "African" or "Asian" you are, while others claim to identify you are a descendent of Irish Kings or Genghis Khan.

But what does this even mean? Can this kind of data really be used to make legal personal, historical or legal claims? The biology and methods behind such tests in fact greatly constrain the inferences you can make. This article written for Chance magazine outlines some of these important caveats, using discussions from web bulletin boards by those undergoing such testing as a basis for examination.

Click the image of Oprah above for the PDF.