A project spanning five continents is aiming to map the history of human migration via DNA. The Genographic Project will collect DNA samples from over 100,000 people worldwide to help piece together a picture of how the Earth was colonised. Samples gathered from indigenous people and the general public will be subjected to lab and computer analysis to extract the valuable genetic data. Team leader Dr Spencer Wells calls the plan “the Moon shot of anthropology”. The $40m (£21m) privately-funded initiative is a collaboration between National Geographic, IBM and charity the Waitt Family Foundation. Participating in the five-year study are some of the world’s top population geneticists as well as leading experts in the fields of ancient DNA, linguistics and archaeology.
