23andMe is having a huge sale — their complete DNA service is only $99 (reg $499) in celebration of DNA Day.
They send you a container to spit in, you send it back, then they analyze your DNA and give detailed information on your ancestry, inheritable markers for diseases, drug response predictions, and more.
Has anyone used this service? I’m really tempted for that price.
I would counsel against it. That way paranoia lays.
I was thinking about this today: Would fundie religion’s objections to genetic testing and abortion exist if you told them you could test for sexuality in the womb? Of course they’d have to admit that it’s not a choice first – but I’d bet money it would end with them demanding all foetuses be tested.
I suppose being left handed instead of right handed is a choice, too.
According to fundies? Wouldn’t surprise me.
That’s what they taught in my grandmother’s day. She was left handed and they’d just beat her until she used her right (in both senses) hand rather than the demonic, perverted left.
Even then, the fundies were suspicious of the left. :) And now she’s ambidextrous after years of being forced to do things against her natural tendency.
Forgot to add this was in a Catholic school.
This was very common among Catholic schools the world around. The left hand was indeed the wicked one. In fact, the word right comes from the Old English riht, which meant not the opposite of left, but “good” or “proper;” the word left comes from the Old English lyft, which was sometimes used as a euphemism for the direction or hand, but mostly meant “weak” or “foolish.” The Latin word for “left” is sinister, and I think you can see where the definition of that word went.
Apparently this all stems from the Greek manner of practicing Roman rituals, in which they would face North for the rituals, and birds or other omens seen on or traveling west (left) portended misfortune. The other cause has to do primarily with the fact that most people are right handed–as a result, “left” tended to be associated with the weaker hand (this was the primary meaning of the O.E. word lyft) whereas “right” tended to be associated with the stronger hand (as is clearly evident in the word “right” itself, but also in the Latin word “dexter” lending its meaning to the English “dextrous”).
I was forced to write with my right hand when I was in 1st grade. That was in 1981. It’s weird, because I do things that I learned before 1st grade with my left hand (like eat and brush my teeth). Things I learned after 1st grade I do with my right (like bat and use chop sticks).
Same thing happened to my dad and he attended public schools in California and Pennsylvania in the 60′s. He said that it was all about ‘proper handwriting’ though, no religious element to it.
There’s an ancient custom that the left hand is the hand you wipe with after performing bodily functions, and you never touch food or another person with your left. This makes sense in countries with scarce water and little vegetation to wipe with, and is still very common in the Middle East and India. Perhaps an anthropologist or historian could tell us when this custom entered Europe. Or, perhaps the origins of the word ‘sinister’ could shed some light.
I would like to do it for the ancestry part personally. I know a good bit about my fathers side, but virtually nothing about my mothers side.
Also it would be nice to know if I have allergies to things before I get injected with them. I’m already deathly allergic to penicillin, and my father and mother have terrible reactions to bee and wasp stings. So it seems like something that would be good to know.
You cannot be allergic to something unless you are first exposed to it. The first (or millionth) exposure sets up the response, you will get a reaction with the next exposure. You can be exposed to something for years and years and not have a reaction to it…until the next exposure. You can be exposed to something else just once, and have a reaction the second time. In the case of penicillin, it is common in the environment, you can have an exposure without knowing it, and thus react the ‘first’ time you get the medication. The tendency to have allergies is inherited, the specific allergen is NOT.
I would do this in a heartbeat (if I had $99).
I’ve explored the site a bit and it looks like there is an entire community, and other websites where you can upload your data to find out other information. One I saw was how “inbred” you are. As horrible as it sounds, it seems like it is pretty normal for everyone to have a “bottleneck” in their familial lines, where closely related people had children…
It looks very interesting to me. Maybe they’ll have another sale next year, and I’ll have the money to do it. ;)
We could try to convince the Fundies that the ‘Mark of the Beast’ is really DNA sequences, and in order to be saved, they have to rid their bodies of all DNA.
This won’t work. They will just pray to Jesus and do the Hokey-Pokey until they felt the Holy Spirit, at which point they will know their bodies were cleansed of all DNA. They will refuse actual testing on the grounds that it is based in science and Satan.
I underwent the testing, results were shocking (to them) indicated that I was ‘not of this world’ and that I had my heavenly Father’s DNA coursing through my veins, very strange they thought, said it was as if I were a whole ‘nother species altogether! :) They were perplexed to say the least.
They were however, able to decode a hidden message locked away deep inside my DNA, in a strand of genes near my heart, a sort of ‘heart-o-glyphics’ that read something like ‘loves the UF forum folks with all his heart’ which puzzled them all the more, who were these UF’ers? Hmm.
More questions than answers for sure, but you know science, can’t fully trust it…:)
L’UF to all! :)
I’m having trouble deciding if this actually makes more sense than your usual drivel. It’s close.
L’UF!
I think it makes less sense… not only confusing but corny and ridiculous.
I loled. People here really need to lighten up.
Before you do it, I’d suggest listening to RadioLab’s special on DNA, particularly the segment about Wayne Joseph’s DNA test.
Just so you know, 23andMe doesn’t do full genome sequencing. A relevant post can be found here:
http://singularityhub.com/2008/12/30/whole-genome-sequencing-to-cost-only-1000-by-end-of-2009/
That’s true, and is stated on their website, but $99 for a $499 service seems good for what they do provide!
they pulled the deal at 5PM CST. uh… I thought the day ended at Midnight. Bad PR Job 23andme.com
bought it at 99, before the time ran out, cant wait for the results!
My friend did it! She said that there are certain nationalities that show up more easily than others – for example native american. She is 3/4 african-american and 1/4 Irish to her knowledge, but apparently found some type of native american in there too.
I ordered a kit. Will share the experience here when complete, if not the results. :)
I wish I’d known about the 99.00 sale, I would have had it done myself!