Scientists have created the ‘largest family tree in the world,’ linking approximately 27 million people globally, including both living and deceased individuals.
We all flip through family albums, uncovering the mysteries of distant cousins and older relatives. Even snapshots of previous generations can take considerable time to piece together.
The largest family tree in the world connects 27 million people revealing interesting facts
Such a colossal dataset could only be achieved through the efforts of many individuals dedicating hours to research, fueled by a bit of love and passion.
British scientists at the Big Data Institute of the University of Oxford have created the “largest family tree in the world,” connecting 27 million people, both living and deceased, around the globe.
This research marks a significant milestone in the journey towards mapping all human genetic relationships.
Yan Wong, an evolutionary geneticist at the institute and co-author of the study, stated: “This family tree helps us see how the genetic sequences of each person are related to one another, along with all points of the genome.”
The family tree illustrates how people around the world are interconnected in an “unprecedented detail.”
The earliest individuals appearing in the tree date back before Homo sapiens, living in an area that is now part of Sudan, over a million years ago.
Researchers indicate that this “family tree” enhances the ability to trace the origins of human genetic diversity, creating a comprehensive map of how every individual in the world is related.
Scientists integrated data from modern and ancient human genomes from eight different databases, including 3,609 individual genome sequences from 215 populations.
Ancient genomes with numerous samples have been found worldwide, ranging from 1,000 to over 100,000 years old.
Dr. Anthony Wilder Wohns, the lead author of the study, mentioned: “Essentially, we are reconstructing the genomes of our ancestors and using them to form a vast network of relationships.”
And who knows, perhaps in the coming years, you will see even larger family trees with roots deep enough to connect all humanity across the globe.
