Genealogy Blog

3 Degrees of Separation, Part 2

While the PBS series Finding Your Roots made only passing reference to connections between guests, the truth is that each guest is separated from each other guest by at most three degrees -- genetically. Continue reading ...

June 8, 2012 | 6 COMMENTS

3 Degrees of Separation: Genetic Connectivity

It may take far less than six degrees of separation to connect us. Geneticists who worked on the Finding Your Roots series were able to connect guests through just one or two other individuals. Continue reading ...

May 30, 2012 | 4 COMMENTS

This map shows the origins of the maternal line of Finding Your Roots guest Sanjay Gupta. This genetic lineage, U2c, is found primarily in South Asia. Darker colors show where this lineage is most common.

Haplogroups: Tracing Deep Roots with DNA

People with similar geographic ancestry share these small differences in their mtDNA or their y-DNA and they are grouped together in what are called haplogroups— specific clans or branches of the human family tree. Continue reading ...

May 15, 2012 | 13 COMMENTS

DNA and Deep Family Mysteries

For some, these deeper family mysteries take on an additional dimension that goes far beyond curiosity — knowing who that great-great-grandfather was would fill in a critical gap in their understanding of who they are. Continue reading ...

May 4, 2012 | 22 COMMENTS

If they carry one particular genetic variant, two individuals with brown eyes can have children with almost any color eyes.

Ancestral Traits

Geneticists discuss how DNA and genetics determines our traits, like eye color, and how our shared DNA can surface recurring traits down our family lines. Continue reading ...

April 16, 2012 | 17 COMMENTS

Genetics 101: All About DNA

Geneticists explain DNA, mitochondrial DNA, chromosomes, genomes, and how, with the right tools, our genetics has the power to reveal our ancestry. Continue reading ...

March 29, 2012 | 7 COMMENTS

Solving Mysteries via DNA

Joanna Mountain's fascination with genetics took off while teaching in Kenya. She later embarked on a research project that helped map the migration routes of our ancestors who lived on the African continent tens of thousands of years ago. Continue reading ...

February 28, 2012 | 12 COMMENTS

Stories on Every Branch of the Family Tree

Through census records or conversations with relatives we can recover some of our family histories. But where memories and traditional paper records fail, we now have a new genealogical tool - our own DNA. Continue reading ...

January 24, 2012 | 9 COMMENTS

About the Series

The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the new 10-part PBS series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the 12th series from Professor Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Filmed on location across the United States, the series premieres nationally Sundays, March 25 – May 20 at 8 pm ET on PBS (check local listings).