Lawrence Mayka:  

Life EDIT: I have retired from DNA project administration (the work I describe below). I still enjoy genetic ancestry/genealogy as a hobby, though. I joined Bell Laboratories, never married, took care of my mother for 10 years until she died of malpractice, then essentially "retired." But now... I am the volunteer administrator for the Polish DNA Project. The project is affiliated with and supported by a commercial testing company, Family Tree DNA. Family Tree DNA is also the testing company for National Geographic's Genographic Project. Both the Genographic Project and Family Tree DNA itself focus on two types of DNA testing for genetic ancestry and genealogy purposes: testing of the Y chromosome, and of mitochondrial DNA. The Y chromosome is passed down from father to son, father to son, without change except for occasional mutations that act roughly like clock ticks. From the DNA test results of many men we attempt to estimate where their paternal ancestors were and when. Somewhat similarly, mitochondrial DNA is passed down from mother to daughter, mother to daughter. (At the very end of the sequence, sons receive the mitochondrial DNA also but cannot pass it on.) And again, the mitochondrial DNA remains unchanged except for occasional mutations that, although random, have a measurable average rate and hence can be counted roughly like clock ticks. For several reasons, though, mitochondrial DNA test results are not nearly as precise as Y chromosome test results. One obvious reason is sociological: In war, the losing side's men are killed off or driven away and cannot reproduce; whereas the losing side's women have generally survived and reproduced. Thus, Y chromosome results better represent the rise and f...Expand for more