AncestryDNA Archives - Identifinders International, LLC

DNA-The Next Big Gold Rush?

By Austin Bethell|2017-05-29T18:05:24-07:00May 29th, 2017|

The discovery of gold at Sutters Mill, CA in 1848 promised untold wealth for those who had the resources and stamina to outlast the competition. At the dawn of the California Gold Rush, there were no laws governing property rights; prospectors depended on a system of staking claims to protect their discoveries. Early prospectors did well, earning many times what they would have taken in as common laborers. But within a short time, the techniques of extracting gold became more efficient and sophisticated - far beyond the financial resources of the individual 49er. The tens of billions of dollars of gold recovered from the hills of California were ultimately controlled by only a few. Many later prospectors returned home empty-handed. We are now experiencing a [...]

Big Business or Big Brother?

By Austin Bethell|2022-07-08T21:30:57-07:00May 2nd, 2017|

At the recent American Academy of Forensic Science meeting in New Orleans, I attended the workshop The Opiate Crisis, Dirty Bombs, Big Data/Big Problems, and Driverless Cars: On the Leading Edge of Forensic Science - 2017 Theoretical Forensic Sciences "Think Tank". It seemed like a good session to discover where forensic research is going, aside from the serious look the community is taking at standards of proof within the various forensic disciplines.The talk Who You Are Out in the World and What Do You Think? by Lucy Davis presented an interesting look at the big business side of genetic genealogy. The substance of the talk was a discussion of the informed consent, the terms and conditions of service (TOS), [...]