I Googled My Mother’s Maiden Name and Found My Family’s Violent Secret

Re:I Googled My Mother’s Maiden Name and Found My Family’s V... by sdrothrock on Saturday April 11, 2015 @12:45AM (#9358539)

> the reality is that we have more in common with any random name on the census than those whose DNA eventually trickled down to us.

Really?

DNA will give you a whole lot of things. What if the theoretical rapist had a predisposition to Alzheimer's? MS? Parkinson's? Huntingdon's? etc.

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Re:I Googled My Mother’s Maiden Name and Found My Family’s V... by waterhouse on Saturday April 11, 2015 @01:38AM (#9358640)

Well, actually, after 8 generations, each allele has 8 chances to not get inherited. So if the rapist had, say, one copy of the Huntington's allele (an autosomal dominant mutation according to Wiki), then you would have a 1/256 chance of having inherited the disease from that ancestor. Two copies of the allele from the rapist would give you a 1/128 chance. I'd have to say GP's point stands here.

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