The Appalachian version of this App in one line of javascript: alert("Don't do it, you're related");

There should be a tripwire somewhere in HN that detects people who read this comment and failed to flag the story.

I recall one of Heinlein's books addressing this problem by a different means: a genetic comparison to determine whether a bad genetic reinforcement might occur, rather than relying on the proxy of relatedness.

For Iceland's case as addressed in TFA, that's perhaps a more relevant metric -- that you might end up "crossing" with someone outside of known family, yet who is still closely related enough to present a genetic risk.

I sense a market for a Square-style "DNA chip on a headphone jack" to augment this app. ;-)

> yet who is still closely related enough to present a genetic risk.

Isn't that basically just siblings, and maybe first cousins?

Not necessarily. The closer the relation, the greater the probability of bad genes pairing up, but it is, in fact, a probability.

Your fourth cousin might have a copy of the same bad gene as you while your first cousin doesn't.

Ah, I see, thanks. It makes sense now.

I think it'd be cool just to see how related I am to any given person I meet. I don't know how likely it is that someone would actually use this for its intended purpose though.

Wasn't this released about a year ago?

I'd use it for creating my family tree

The app actually creates it for you.