Staying on top of DNA developments

By Barbara Ware

Keeping up with the rapidly changing development in the use of DNA for genealogy can be made simpler by subscribing to free DNA blogs. In my opinion, the following four blogs stand out, among many. By subscribing, you will be alerted by e-mail when new information is posted.

DNAeXplained by Roberta Estes has been online since 2012. She writes about genetic genealogy, family stories, and native heritage. Her recent posts have featured Ancestry Match, DNA sales for various testing companies, DNAPainter, and Ancestry Acquisition. The blog has links to her articles on Mitochondrial DNA, and which DNA test is best for what purpose, among other topics. The home page has a list of links to her posts by title.

Although Judy Russell is the “Legal Genealogist,” she often features blog posts on DNA. Recent posts featured the changes in AncestryDNA match reductions, DNA sales from FamilyTreeDNA, understanding genetic distances, and COVID-19 gene risk factors. Her home page also has a list of categories of blog topics, including DNA.

Blaine Bettinger, the genetic genealogist, hosts a blog called The Genetic Genealogist: Adding DNA to the Genealogist’s Toolbox. The top entries on the page are the Shared cM Project and X-DNA charts. His blog is less active, with newer posts toward the bottom of the home page. The most recent covers the upcoming loss of more distant DNA matches at AncestryDNA. Blaine also has a subscription website called DNA Central and a private Facebook page.

The DNA Geek Mixing Science and Genealogy by Leah Larkin has weekly blog posts back to November 2016. This blog has a dropdown box of subjects under the Categories title on the right with topics such as making sense of DNA, Finding Family, Ethnicity Estimates, and DNA Testing.