8:20 THE GENO... 5G CURRENT RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY The Genographic Project Have you wondered where your ancestors came from? Some families can trace their history back several centuries. But where were your ancestors 1,000 or 10,000 years ago? A remarkable program called the Genographic Project aims to map the migratory history of all humankind. What can it tell us about what we have inherited from our ancestors? The Genographic Project is an attempt to study patterns and evi- dence from our past. The project con- ducts sophisticated analyses of DNA voluntarily contributed by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world, including samples from indigenous and traditional popula- tions on six continents. Ten regional scientific teams collect and analyze data from their region. Scientists believe that all human beings trace back to Africa, but what is not clearly known is how we migrated and populated the world. Another question is this: If we ATLANTIC OCEAN all share a common ancestor, why do we look so different from each other? Other questions arise about the impact of culture on our genetic background. For example, what influence did conquerors such as the Mongols or the Romans have on local populations? An early finding from the study has shed light on the question about conquerors and invaders. Researchers studied men in Lebanon, a country in a region that has been invaded or ruled by several different cultures. The DNA of 926 men from Christian, Muslim, and Druze communities was ORIGINS OF CRUSADER CHROMOSOMES IN LEBANON North Sea English French German EUROPE Italian Black Sea Italian 1097 ASIA Caspion Sea The Genographic Project relies on DNA samples voluntarily contributed by hun- dreds of thousands of people. analyzed. A genetic marker com- monly found in European populations was found in Lebanese Christian men. This was probably the result of European Christian Crusaders, who began invading the region, once called the Levant, in the 1100s. Among Lebanese Muslim men, a marker appeared that is typical of the populations of the Arabian Peninsula. Most likely these markers were a result of Muslim expansion in the 600s and 700s. Other mark- ers revealed that Lebanese popula- tions are closely related, suggesting that, before the arrival of Arabs and Europeans, the population was more homogenous (Zalloua et al., 2008). The genetic markers linking Lebanese men to European and Arab ancestry tell one of many human migration stories. The ultimate goal of the Genographic Project is to uncover a web of migration stories that will explain how humans popu- lated the world and show how closely the human family is related.