Tag: DNA

DNA analysis suggests some Vikings were not Scandinavian – dpa international

Round tower at Clonmacnoise, a monastery raided by Vikings and located near the River Shannon in Ireland.

DUBLIN — DNA sequencing of Viking remains suggests not all the axe-swinging pillagers were blonde-haired, blue-eyed Nordics, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature. After analysing 442 skeletons buried across Europe and Greenland, a multinational team of academics from the University of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen concluded that “Viking identity was not limited to people with Scandinavian genetic ancestry.” Team leader Eske Willerslev said the analysis showed “significant gene flows” into Scandinavia from southern Europe and Asia before the start of the Viking Age, which is often dated to the 793 sacking of the monastery at Lindisfarne on Britain’s North Sea coast. Over the next three centuries, “Scandinavian diasporas” set up trading posts and towns “stretching from the American continent to the Asian steppe.”

DNA testing takes root in Asia’s genes – Nikkei Asian Review

Nikkei

SINGAPORE — In an era of business buzzwords like “unicorn” and “fintech,” a commercial model built on spitting into a tube might not seem the most propitious idea. But Asia’s nascent DNA testing sector is likely to expand as related technology becomes more affordable and as scientific research advances. Behind the trend is the region’s growing affluence. As tens of millions of people move from the countryside to cities across Asia, so-called “lifestyle” conditions such as diabetes and heart disease become more commonplace as people eat more processed food and replace physically-taxing employment such as farming with sedentary office work. Peering into a person’s DNA can yield insights about susceptibility to particular health conditions or diseases — and a growing consumer awareness of such advances is driving much of the DNA sector’s Asian growth, note companies involved in testing.