One of the subjects I know the least about is genetics. Some day I will read some books and learn how the human body’s 50 to 100 trillion cells combine to form our tissues and organs. One of the most interesting aspects of the body is how the genes inside each cell comprise the "blueprint" for what makes us "tick" and what makes us unique. The experts say that only a tiny fraction of the 30,000 to 40,000 genes, called the genome, makes humans different from animals.
If you remember back to high school biology class, we get half our genes from our father and half from our mother. Each half is a "shuffled deck" of DNA that comes down to us from our ancestors. Ever wonder where your ancestors came from? Not just one hundred years ago but 30,000 years ago? As we move around the world, get married, have children who marry and so on, things will get blurred. Some people really care about figuring out the lines of descent before they are too blurred to decode. IBM cares a lot about this and helped launch the Genographic Project in collaboration with the National Geographic Society. The study combines linguists, paleontologists, genealogists, cultural anthropologists and other scientific researchers working together to explore the migration patterns of the human race.
To get the data needed to unravel the mysteries of our line of descent, the genographic project is collecting DNA from the public. To participate, you can purchase a kit for $99.95 (helps fund important research around the world) and "open the door to the ancient past of your own genetic background". After submitting your DNA using a simple and painless cheek swab you can track your sample through a secure, private, and anonymous system at the Genographic Project. More than 50,000 kits were acquired by the public within the first few months of the project.
New research from the DNA is already revealing some surprises. For example, it now appears that before reaching Europe, modern humans arrived in India, where they created some of the earliest human culture. Another study showed that Europeans owe their ancestry mainly to Stone Age hunters, not to later farmers as had been previously thought.
My own "Certificate of Y-chromosome DNA testing" revealed that I belong to Haplogroup R1b (M343). For a bit of light reading over the holiday weekend, I am going to try to figure out what this means. Like all of us men, my line of ancestry began in Africa with "Eurasian Adam" between 31,000 and 79,000 years ago.

• Genographic Project – Update
• IBM press release about the Genographic Project
• Other resources about genographics