We Are All Africans. Cousins. It's Written In Our DNA.

The Human Genome Project announced, in 2003, it had achieved it's goals successfully.

Goals which included identifying all 20K-25K genes & determining the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs within human DNA.

Quite the accomplishment!

And, they're not done, yet.

Genetic Research, as a field, continues to grow and be fruitful - with significant focus in the areas of human health & the diagnosis/treatment/cure of disease.

This 'Road-Map' of human DNA has - as any good road-map does for travelers - allowed us to identify both humanity's Migratory Starting Point and the Route(s) taken.

Case In Point:
As chronicled in "The Journey Of Man" (I just watched it on PBS), Geneticist Spencer Wells and his team traveled to the far corners of the globe, collected small amounts of blood, extracted DNA and analyzed it (focusing on the Y-chromosome) in order to unravel the secrets of humanity's earliest migrations.

It's a remarkable and informative documentary about a fascinating field.

(*Spoiler Alert*)

Mr. Wells' findings are based on detailed scientific study - using state-of-the-art equipment - of thousands of DNA samples from all over the world.

And, after thoroughly evaluating the collected evidence, Mr. Wells concluded that All (modern) humans (regardless of perceived 'nationality') are of African descent.

Wells' work showed how every bit of DNA to be found in any of our bodies can, today, be traced back to an African source.

In other words... We (All of Humanity) Are All Africans... We Are All Cousins... Separated by no more than 2,000 generations.

Very Cool.

For your reading pleasure:

(Enjoy!)

1.) Interview Excerpt From: Wells, S.: The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey.
(Source: Princeton University Press)


2.) We Are All Africans

All non-African females are descendants of L3 line from Africa, and males have Y chromosome M-168

Nayan Chanda

Businessworld , 21 July 2009

(Source: YaleGlobal Online - A Publication of Yale Center for the Study of Globalization)