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MPR News Staff

Ancestry's Catherine Ball on your broader human family

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DNA model
A model of DNA's double helix structure.
Image courtesy of the Center for Structural Biology at Yale University

Genetic research can help us explore what makes up our human identity, and how our DNA can illuminate our genetic relationships with people all over the world and throughout history.

Catherine Ball of Ancestry says this genetic research can help us understand how immigration, geography, religion and even politics have shaped our individual, and shared, history.

Ball says we live in a "river of history."

"The reason why we're here" she said, "has to do with wars and famine and droughts and political issues, and the opening up of the homestead somewhere, and much less to do, really, with the ego, and the individuals."

Catherine Ball, PhD, is chief scientific officer at Ancestry. She was interviewed July 17, 2017 at the Commonwealth Club of California by Wired science writer Megan Molteni.

To listen to the interview, click the audio player above.