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Other Dubious Commercial and Media Claims
Yeti, Bigfoot and Sasquatch
The Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, Bigfoot and Sasquatch are some of the names used to describe various "cryptic primates" - large ape-like mythological beasts that have supposedly been sighted in different parts of the world. However, reliable evidence in the form of fossils, bodies or body parts, has never been found - if they existed we should see dead bodies occasionally. DNA analysis of hair samples, blood and tissues purporting to originate from the beasts will always, it seems, be popular in the media.
Dr Melba Ketchum's聽聽analysed blood, tissue, hair and other samples purporting to have come from the elusive hominim Sasquatch in North America. The mtDNA was found to match that of modern humans, but the authors claimed that the "Sasquatch nuclear DNA is a mosaic comprising human DNA interspersed with sequence that is novel but primate in origin".
However, the "scientific journal" in which the research was published is Dr Ketchum's own journal聽, launched in February 2013. As of July 2014 the Sasquatch paper is the only article that has yet appeared in this journal. Eric Berger, a reporter for the聽Houston Chronicle, sent some of Dr Ketchum's DNA samples to an independent geneticist for analysis, and聽.听The results are disputed by Dr Ketchum who has asked for a new independent study.
The , a collaborative venture led by the late聽, a former professor of human genetics at the University of Oxford, and Michel Sartori, Director of the Lausanne Museum of Zoology, was set up to use genetic techniques to investigate organic remains from the Yeti and other purported hominid species.听Hair and teeth samples claimed to come from Bigfoot and Yeti were solicited from individuals and institutions from around the world.听聽A peer-reviewed scientific paper "" was published in July 2014 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Thirty-six of the 57 samples received were selected for DNA testing, and mitochondrial DNA was extracted from 30 of the samples. Perhaps not surprisingly the samples were found to have come from a variety of well known animals (bears, cows, horses, etc). More controversially, two of the samples were found to match the mtDNA of a Pleistocene polar bear that lived more than 40,000 years ago. However, another researcher, Dr Frank Hailer from the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Germany, was and suggested that the sequences were from a Siberian/Alaskan polar bear that was sampled around ten years ago.
The findings were also challenged by Ceiridwen Edwards of the University of Oxford and Ross Barnett from the Natural History Museum of Denmark in聽.听Edwards and Barnett found that the two mtDNA sequences matched a modern polar bear sequence on GenBank and not that of an ancient polar bear. They further suggested that the single mutation that led the authors to assign the sequences to an ancient polar bear was in fact a damage artefact. They offered the more plausible explanation that the two hair samples were from Himalayan brown bears. In Melton, Sartori and Sykes acknowledged the error in their GenBank search but stood by their methodology.
A further challenge came from Eli茅cer聽Guti茅rrez of the Smithsonian Institution and Ronald H.听Pine from the Biodiversity Institute in Kansas who published . They conducted a聽phylogenetic analysis and concluded聽that "there is no reason to believe that the two samples came from anything other than Brown Bears."
The Sunday Times聽subsequently reported that the Institute of Genetics at Oxford University, which Sykes had used as his affiliation for the Royal Society article, did not exist. (Thanks聽to聽Jonathan Leake, Science Editor, ,听for permission to reproduce his article below.)
The Royal Society announced in April 2015 that to remove the reference to the non-existent Institute. The correction was published online in Proceedings B on 20 May 2015.
In October 2013, prior to the publication of the paper Channel 4 broadcast聽The Bigfoot Files, a three-part series, in which TV presenter Mark Evans and聽Professor Sykes聽examined the legend of Bigfoot.
A book by Prof Sykes, entitled 聽was published in April 2015.
The following articles are recommended for further reading on this subject:
- , by Girl Scientist, The Guardian blog
-听聽by Dr Dustin Welbourne,The Conversation
-听" by Professor William Amos,听The Conversation
-听聽by Professor Mark Jobling,听Investigative Genetics
ConnectMyDNA
聽is an American company which "combines a DNA test with a personality test to identify those most like you". Your DNA profile is then transformed into a GeneRing, your "personalized genetic emblem". This is genetic astrology at its worst. There have been many dissatisfied customers. See the complaints on聽RipOff Report听补苍诲听. See also the article聽聽by the "Legal Genealogist" Judy Russell.
A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History
Nicholas Wade, a former journalist on the聽New York Times, has published a controversial new book聽A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History聽(Penguin Press HC, May 2014). A troublesome start to his argument is his claim that genome studies have revealed a biological basis for human races: they haven't.听 There are genetic differences around the world, but we have known for some time that genetic differences usually vary smoothly with distance and do not fall into a number of discrete "races".
He goes on to argue that recent gene-culture evolution has led to genetic differences between human groups that can explain at least some aspects of, for example, the industrial revolution and consequently the world's current economic and political situation. Following a聽聽in the聽New York Times Book Review聽by their feature writer David Dobbs, over 130 leading geneticists, including 香港六合彩中特网's DJB and MGT, wrote to the聽Review聽to confirm that they did not support Wade's "misappropriation of their research" and that they were "in full agreement that there is no support from the field of population genetics for Wade's conjectures".
The story was also reported in聽听补苍诲听.听For a detailed overview of the coverage see Jennifer Raff's blog post聽.
There have been many excellent reviews describing Wade's problematic interpretation of the science, the best of which include the following:
-听A three part guide to the science and pseudoscience of聽A Troublesome Inheritance聽by Chris Smith:聽;听;听
-听听补苍诲听聽by Jennifer Raff
-听聽by Michael Eisen
-听A detailed review for the US magazine Genewatch聽by Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall of the American Museum of Natural History
In addition five critical reviews of the book by Agustin Fuentes, Jonathan Marks, Jennifer Raff, Charles C Roseman and Laura R Stein were published in聽the scientific journal聽聽(2014; 86; 3). The reviews were made available on聽聽to facilitate discussion.
Alternative theories of human origins聽
The story of human origins is complicated. Many of the genetic studies cited in support of the Out of Africa hypothesis have been based on analysis of Y-chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA.听 Yet Y-DNA and mtDNA represent only a tiny fraction of the human genome, and we have until recently been reliant on the analysis of DNA extracted from contemporary people.
The surviving Y-DNA and mtDNA lines represent only a subset of those present in the ancestral population. Advances in ancient DNA testing in the last few years are now beginning to transform our understanding and knowledge. Analysis of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA have provided evidence that archaic humans contributed to our ancestry. For some good articles summarising the current thinking see the links below:
-听聽by Huw Groucott et al,听Evolutionary Anthropology, 2015. Available from聽.
-听聽by Lopez, van Dorp and Hellenthal,听Evolutionary Bioinformatics Online, 2016.
-听
-听聽(拢)聽by Joseph Pickrell and David Reich,听Trends in Genetics聽2014. Available as a聽.听
-听聽(拢) by Krishna R. Veeramah and Michael F. Hammer,听Nature Reviews Genetics, 2014.
-听聽by Chris Stringer, 2014.
Because of the uncertainties involved in making inferences about human origins it is easy for maverick researchers to come up with seemingly plausible alternative hypotheses, which often attract attention because most of us are curious about human origins, and editors are reluctant to turn down stories that may attract attention, often irrespective of merit.
While these hypotheses can sometimes highlight the shortcomings in the current theories, the evidence provided for the competing hypotheses is often thin, with authors citing their own self-published research in support of their theories, rather than the work of a range of other scholars. We highlight below some of the more problematical theories that have been brought to our attention.听
The Into Africa hypothesis
The Into Africa hypothesis has been proposed by聽, a chemist from Russia who is now living in America. He writes prolifically on the subject of what he calls "DNA genealogy". His research is almost all self-published. Klyosov is the editor of聽聽published by the questionable open access publisher聽.
None of the members of the journal's editorial board has a background in population genetics. Klyosov has published two articles in this journal (2012 and 2014) supposedly refuting the Out of Africa hypothesis and proposing his alternative Into Africa theory. But these papers focus on a questionable analysis of Y-DNA and mtDNA which are of limited value for inferences about human origins. (Y-DNA and mtDNA tests can, however,听be used legitimately for genealogical purposes.)
In January 2015, a group of leading Russian academics published a letter in the popular science magazine聽Troitskii Variant聽denouncing Anatole Klyosov's聽.
The Out of Australia hypothesis
Steven Strong, a former teacher with an interest in archaeology, has become a prolific writer on the subject of Aboriginal Australians, and has put forward a theory that聽. He cites a mixture of scientific and pseudo-scientific papers (including some from聽) in support of his argument but the scientific papers he cites often state the opposite of what he proposes.
His articles seem to be designed to promote sales of聽. It appears that his "groundbreaking" new theory of human civilisation is that not only did humans originate in Australia but that we are all ""
Biblical associations
We have covered elsewhere on this website the misleading stories generated by BritainsDNA which have included outrageous claims about Eve's grandson, the Queen of Sheba and "bringing the Bible to life". However, BritainsDNA are not alone in their attempts to try to find associations between haplogroups and biblical figures.
罢丑别听聽claims to have found an "amazing"聽.
Dr Georgia Purdum claims to have聽聽through "an extensive DNA research". She cites the mitochondrial DNA research of the "creation geneticist" Dr Nathaniel Jeanson who has supposedly shown that "the common human female ancestor of us all (biblical Eve) lived within the biblical timeframe of several thousand years ago". However, evidence from mtDNA sequence data places the date of the most recent common matrilineal ancestor of all living humans聽.
Purdum further claims "genetics clearly shows that human and chimps do not share a common ancestor". Her "research" is presented in聽. Purdum's claims are in contradiction to the DNA evidence from sequence data pointing to a common ancestor for chimps and humans. See, for example, the聽.
The article聽聽in that issue provides a good overview. A subsequent article in聽Nature聽by Pr眉fer et al (2011)聽. See also the blog post by Steven Novella on聽.
A contributor to the聽聽website has made the remarkable inference that聽, the "fallen angels" who were spoken of in the聽Book of Genesis. The apparent finding of alien DNA extracted from some elongated skulls in the desert peninsula of Paracas on the south coast of Peru is offered as evidence in support of the theory.
Genetic homeland case reports聽
Genetic homeland case reports are offered by Tyrone Bowes through his聽,听听补苍诲听聽websites. The reports purport to pinpoint the place of origin of one's patrilineal ancestors one thousand years ago based on the results of a 37-marker Y-DNA test from聽. However, the methodology used in the reports does not appear to have been subjected to systematic testing or scientific peer review, and the reports make a number of false assumptions and fail to quantify or report uncertainty. See Debbie Kennett's聽聽for a summary of the problems. See also聽听辞蹿听Family Tree Magazine.
Historical haplotypes - Genghis Khan and Niall of the Nine Hostages
A number of companies offer Y-DNA tests for customers who might wish to find out if they are related to historical figures such as Genghis Khan or Niall of the Nine Hostages (see for example聽,听听补苍诲听). The purported Y-DNA signatures of Genghis Khan and Niall of the Nine Hostages have been published in scientific papers but these studies merely found unusually prevalent Y-chromosome lineages, and proposed the association with Genghis Khan and Niall of the Nine Hostages as a possible explanation. The hypotheses have not been confirmed, and even if these historical figures possessed the Y haplotype attributed to them, it is likely that many of their contemporaries also carried it so that direct descent cannot be established simply from carrying that haplotype.
The Genghis Khan study was published in 2003 by聽. The authors provided evidence of a predominant Y-chromosome lineage found throughout a large region of Asia, which they attributed to descent from the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan. The Niall of the Nine Hostages claim derives from a 2006 study by聽聽who identified a Y-chromosome signature that was found at an unusually high frequency in northwestern Ireland. They suggested an association with the聽U铆 N茅ill聽dynasty which traces back to a "possibly mythological 5th-century warlord" known as Niall of the Nine Hostages.
Ideally one would like to extract DNA from the remains of the historical figure under investigation, but that was not possible in either of these cases. It is not known that Niall of the Nine Hostages actually existed, and the burial place of Genghis Khan has not been identified, although there has been much speculation. In the absence of ancient DNA we are reliant on testing the DNA of living people and using statistical methods to estimate the time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA).
There is considerable uncertainty in all such estimates, and both these studies were based on low-resolution Y-STR testing (17 and 16 markers respectively) with no SNP testing to filter out Y-STR matches due to "chance"聽 rather than recent shared ancestry. Consequently there is a wide error margin in any such TMRCA estimates. Even if it were possible to estimate the TMRCA accurately the link with a historical figure remains speculative (). There are other possible explanations for the high prevalence of a particular haplotype. If you take a Y-DNA test and you match a Niall or a Genghis Khan signature then there is a possibility that the famous man was your ancestor but there is no way to be sure and it is also possible that all your ancestors had no claim to fame beyond their success in contributing to what is today a highly prevalent haplotype.
The medieval historian Catherine Swift wrote an excellent critique of the Niall hypothesis from a historical perspective in聽, a chapter in聽Princes, Prelates and Poets in Medieval Ireland聽(Se谩n Duffy, ed, Four Courts Press, 2013).
See also the article by Paul Frijters聽.