As you might have heard, AncestryDNA released a new regions update earlier this month. The most talked about feature is the ability to divide regions up by grandparent, but another key improvement is that the information in the chromosome painter is now much more refined. First introduced in 2022, Ancestry’s chromosome painter is essentially your
Artificial intelligence (AI) is inescapable at the moment. Here’s a succinct summary of how I do and don’t use it at DNA Painter. Before I dive in, I’m not intending to pass judgement on anyone else and how they use AI. Just as with anything else in life, everyone has their own taste! AI on
I’m excited to share that I will be the keynote speaker at the 18th AFFHO Congress on Family History in Wellington, New Zealand next year. The event takes place from February 11th to 14th, 2027 and is being held at Rutherford House, Victoria University of Wellington. It will be amazing to finally meet people I’ve
I took a trip to Berlin last month with my brother. While the impetus for the trip was music, the city also offered a poignant glimpse into my family’s past.
Over the past year, there has been a sudden proliferation of tools to help genealogists analyze and display family trees. Most of these tree tools are aimed at a broad family history audience, while others are designed for investigative genetic genealogy. In this post, I’ll look at some of these tools and also discuss the
I had a great time in Salt Lake City, dodging illness and meeting up with friends. In this post, I’ll talk more about what I did, and include links to a selection of DNA-related presentations that are available online.
Last month I found out 23andMe had launched a beta clustering tool, DNA Relatives Clustering. This is available to paid 23andme+ members who have opted in. Initially, there was no documentation beyond a Reddit post, but the feature is clearly powerful, with the ability to customize cM thresholds and target specific matches. There is now
A quick recap on what has been an eventful year for genealogists and those working with DNA, covering genealogy/testing company releases, artificial intelligence, and DNA Painter activities.
I had the chance to experiment with AncestryDNA Custom Clusters. In this article I talk about how it worked out for two sample brick walls.
A summary of a brick wall where DNA doesn’t currently seem to be able to help.