Genes Reunited Blog

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Welcome to the new Genes Reunited blog!

  • We regularly add blogs covering a variety of topics. You can add your own comments at the bottom.
  • The Genes Reunited Team will be writing blogs and keeping you up to date with changes happening on the site.
  • In the future we hope to have guest bloggers that will be able to give you tips and advice as to how to trace your family history.
  • The blogs will have various privacy settings, so that you can choose who you share your blog with.

The British Newspaper Archive

British Newspaper Archive

Read about historical events at the time they were happening. Perhaps you'll discover your ancestor in their local newspaper?

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Genomes and Genealogy


Published on 9 Jul 2010 17:00 : 0 comments : 1276 views

Over the past few weeks many scientists and genealogist have been talking about the recent "milestone" developments with genomes. A genome is the hereditary information of an organism that is encoded in DNA. Every organism has a genome that contains all of the biological information needed to build and maintain a living example of an organism. Thus, genome is useful because it can provide us with genetic information.

The Human Genome Project was set up and organised to map the human genome and with new discoveries taking place scientists predict that in around ten years time investigating your family genomes will be affordable and as a result massively influence what we can learn from our family tree.

The prince of darkness, Ozzy Osbourne has currently spent £27,000 researching into the Osbourne genome to see if scientists can explain how he has managed to survive for so long after leading such an extreme lifestyle of excessive drug use and drinking. Scientists believe it must be in his genes, so they have started researching into his ancestors to find out if there is a hereditary diagnosis.

This interesting discovery will mean we can use census records to further develop our understanding of our ancestors and answer (what is currently) the unknown. Do you have a history of long living relatives that stems back to the 1800's or beyond? Maybe in a few years you can unlock the mysteries of your ancestry and family longevity.