New Advancements from AncestryDNA

Question

I saw this message posted today.  Not sure what it could all mean, but I'm just sharing it on here at WikiTree for what's it worth.

http://c.ancestry.com/cs/media/new-ancestrydna-advances-april-2016.pdf

Comments

I think it is awesome.  Anything to whittle down 179 pages of matches is great

Answer 1

Half marketing bull**** and half saying that they have a new algorithm they test is my interpretation. Benefit for users is I guess less people in the result list.... that Ancestry assume are more related to you. Problem I still feel is to do a good estimate as then you need to understand if your family tree is related to a big or a small gene pool.

• more technical article 
  page 33 "This leads to the natural conclusion that many of these "spikes" represent DNA that is not shared due to IBD from recent common ancestry, but for some other reason (see Section 1.4)." they filter out pile up etc... that you get for "free" when using gedmatch, ftdna......

Comments

The best tool that they could give us is a Chrosome Browser, the rest of it is just a guess as to which ancestor.  DOnt tell me The Amount of Shared DNA is "6.2 centimorgans shared across 1 DNA segment". Tell me where that DNA is shared!  Which segment do I match this person?  I want more information!!

Margo

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Agree with Magnus and Margo. Marketing BS as usual, that's what they are best at. Their problem is now that they have 1.5 million DNA tests they are running into a lot of computations that are necessary to identify triangulated segments. Hence they don't do it and rather use their proprietary algorithms to keep computing under control.

I hope you guys are all aware that your DNA tests there are by default being sold to Pharma companies, Insurances and whoever is paying them money for it.

If not then go in there and have fun trying to find the option to turn it off ;-) Default should be to opt-in and not opt-out but again, Ancestry is a great company when it comes to Marketing!

Answer 2

Interesting stuff with it as well.  I got a match for a "Family Group" that has four people under it yesterday.

Has anyone else ever seen a "Family Group" in Ancestry DNA?

Comments

Do you mean one of your DNA Circles or New Ancestor Discoveries has a family group?  Then yes.  I'm part of a family group of 4 and several of my closest matches are family groups.

In regards to Circles, in one of their white papers "How are close family members grouped..."

Why did AncestryDNA create family groups?

Although close family members share large amounts of DNA, they also inherit DNA that is unique to them. By combining information from all family members, you'll get a better picture of what an ancestor's DNA would be, had they been tested. Families also help us connect you with cousins you might not know about.