A new “GPS” for your DNA can track your where your ancestors lived a millennium ago, and much more accurately than previous methods—down to the exact village in some cases. [...]
According to their study published this week in Nature, the tool has traced DNA origins with 98 percent accuracy, while previous methods were often off by 700 km, which is a whole different country in some parts of the world. But when researchers applied their GPS-based approach to over 200 Sardinian villagers, they were able to place a quarter of them in their villages of genetic origin, and the rest within 50 km.
The increased accuracy of the new model is based on a simple, if controversial, assumption made by the study authors: that race doesn’t exist.