Genealogical Gynecological Fun for Girls and Boys

I thought the majority of the people on the planet already do not have genealogies already, so I'm not sure personally how huge an effect this will be. While it's interesting, I don't think it really has too much importantance to personal health. For years and years, you can get your DNA analyazed for traits and markers. It's not done cause insurance companies don't care for it so it's expensive, but it's very realistic to get yourself tested to see what potential diseases and risks you have. People can nowadays screen your embryo for 1 to 2 thousand dollars to see exactly what may come up! A lot of things in genetics aren't so much straight yes or no in terms of disease, but in regards to cancers, are nearly always "risk factors". The usefulness comes in saying if you have had family have something, you may be at higher risk. Watch yourself, have the doctor check you out maybe a lil more frequently to help with early prevention and care. Good medical and public healthcare should ideally be able to do that for everyone.

About genealogies, is this really new to the 20th and 21st century? I'm thinking it's got to be worse farther back. How many mistresses, hidden children, etc are there, from the US to Europe and back again? Thinking of just Thomas Jefferson and all the potential offspring with slaves. The DNA evidence now isn't strong enough to prove paternity (but it did show a link), but the national genealogical society if I remember said the link between him and her was validified. I'd imagine records were hard to keep straight and maybe the "idealized" version worldwide, especially in such cases.

I've always been into the sciences, and I think genealogy might be kind of interesting - I never really thought of it outside of a genetics class. But I remember even in middle school I thought they got ridiculously messy and complex :P

Hey I just read a very cool article in the New York Times Magazine that reminded me of your post. Check it out. Specifically, what reminded me of your post was this:

Primary among the reasons mothers to be choose to become impregnated by a known donor who remains part of the family is a reluctance to raise children in the shadow of anonymous heritage. As one donor dad, an East Coast lawyer named Guy, told me, his lesbian co-parents “felt like it was important for their kids to know as much as they could about their story. When there’s an anonymous donor, it’s not always an ideal situation for the child.”