Donald Trump doesn’t understand that science is not a fixed body of known facts. It changes all the time — whenever new data and new tools result in new information and therefore new knowledge. That’s why Fauci (et al.) used to recommend not wearing masks and now strongly recommend wearing them. It’s not fake news, it’s not that he just arbitrarily or politically changes his mind.

Similarly, DNA science and tools keep improving. That’s why ancestry.com just sent me some unsolicited changes in my ancestry estimates. Just over two years ago, on May 4, 2018, they sent me the results that I quoted in my blog post at the time; now they have upgraded my European Jewish percentage from 93% to 100%.

The only thing that’s curious is that Romania is in the yellow area, not the orange (see map below). Even through three of my grandparents hailed from what’s now Belarus (and was then part of Russia or Poland, depending on the year), my fourth (my father’s father) was definitely from Romania. I have no idea where his parents were from, so maybe that accounts for the discrepancy. Or maybe I’m just misinterpreting the map; their documentation leaves a lot to be desired, and perhaps the map is trying to say that 75% of my ancestors are from the orange area, 25% from the yellow. But all were European Jewish, i.e. Ashkenazi.

Categories: Life