---
title: Neanderthal quotients and my DNA song
author: George Mandis <george@mand.is>
date: 2014-04-21
tags: post, post, dna, 23andme, cavemen
---

<p>Today I learned that I am 2.9% neanderthal which puts me in the 74th percentile compared the average of 2.7%. This... <a href="http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/01/neanderthals-dna-legacy-linked-to-modern-ailments/">may not be a great thing</a>.</p>
<p>My results from <a href="http://23andme.com">23andMe</a> started trickling in today. It's not very complete but I'm already finding it kind of fascinating and fun. Besides being aware of my slightly-elevated caveman quotient they also provide a fun, gimmicky feature in the form of <a href="http://bit.ly/1lvSbv4">a melody based on my DNA</a>. As someone who once spent several days trying to turn <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/feed/v1.0/">earthquake data</a> into generated music this is <em>totally</em> up my alley!</p>
<p><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/145823039&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;visual=true" width="100%" height="450" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<p>It's still working on the rest of my ancestry and I'll probably write about it when it's finished. Right now I'm looking at my maternal and paternal haplogroups, trying to deduce exactly what they mean and if they jive with what I know of my family history.</p>
<p>23andMe doesn't provide the medical info right now, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/25/fda-23andme_n_4338122.html">for legal reasons that are still being discussed</a>, but I spent $5 to run the raw genetic data through <a href="https://promethease.com/onDemandAnalysis">Promethease</a>. I'll probably write about those results too, once I figure out how to read them...</p>