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Tag: population

  • Genealogy Tool Can Now Pinpoint Ancestry Through Genetics

    Genealogy is a fun pastime for many people throughout the world. Tracking down ancestral information and filling out family trees is a way for many to connect with the past.

    Beyond birth and death records, however, the study of genealogy is now being pushed forward faster than ever thanks to genetics. Genetic research can provide people throughout the world with an accurate description of their genetic lineage, and now a new technique can even pinpoint their origins on a map.

    A new study published in the journal Nature Communications has demonstrated the accuracy of a new technique that can identify the place of origin of any person using their genetic makeup. While this has been possible for some time, previous methods were not suitable for people in places with large populations of immigrants.

    The new technique uses a “Geographic Population Structure” tool to pair genetic population distributions with individual genetics. The tool uses a database of genetic information from across the world, which holds the genetic mixtures unique to people around the world that were created through migration and other factors. In some cases these genetic markers are accurate enough to identify individual villages of origin.

    The researchers were able to take unknown genetic samples and identify their location of origin. This was done by cross-referencing the samples’ mixture of genetic characteristics with the database.

    “We were surprised by the simplicity and precision of this method,” said Tatiana Tatarinova, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of Research Pediatrics at the University of Southern California. “People in a given geographical area are more likely to have similar genetics. When they also have genetic traits typically found in other, distant regions, the geographical origin of those traits is generally the closest location where those traits can be found.”

    Tatarinova and her colleagues have set up a website where people can use the new tool for free. The tool does require that people already know their DNA genotype.

    In addition to the obvious use of the technology for genealogy, the new method could also be used in other important fields. The study’s authors believe the technique could be used to help people in high-immigration parts of the world discover their origins, giving them insight into their genetic health risk factors.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • China Announces New One Child Policy

    China Announces New One Child Policy

    In an announcement made on Friday, China leaders decided they would gradually start easing up on its decades old, one child policy.

    The new law states that parents can have two children if either parent was an only child. The new law represents a significant change in China’s future economy and population.

    The one child policy was first introduced in 1970 when China’s population started growing at an uncontrollable rate. From 1949 to 1976, China’s population grew by 400 million people.

    “In the 1980s, when the one-child policy was implemented, it was needed to stop the rapid population growth and increase per-capita income,” said Zhou Haiwang, an expert in population studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. “Now, 30 years later, it has achieved that goal. Now it is time to increase the fertility rate to benefit our society in the long term,” Zhou said.

    Not only has the policy led to an extreme gender imbalance, but it has also made the leaders of the country worry about a labor shortage in the future. Nearly 118 boys were born for every 100 girls in 2012.

    “There’s an economic reason (behind the move), because China now starts to worry that in 20 years or even less, there will be a labor shortage,” said Cheng Li, the director of research and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center in Washington, D.C.

    Several experts believe the policy will be fade completely in the coming years, including Wang Feng, a Chinese population expert and the director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Centre for Public Policy in Beijing.

    “I would not be surprised if a year from now, we’re going to see more and even a complete abandonment of the policy,” said Feng. “The government is testing the waters right now. They know that the policy will have to be gone. The policy serves nobody’s interests,” he said.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Mobile Devices Will Overtake Human Population in 2012

    Mobile Devices Will Overtake Human Population in 2012

    It’s a good thing humans come with two hands because we’re gonna need’em if we’re expected to handle the bulk of cell phones and tablets that are going to be cramping up our planet in the near future. A new study from Cisco predicts that 2012 will be the year that mobile devices will surpass the world’s population of humans. As impossible as that sounds, a few years later in 2016, the company expects there to be 10 billion active mobile devices around the world. Humans, respectively, are shy of 7 billion as of this year.

    As the proliferation of mobile devices increases, the amount of mobile data traffic will naturally increase, as well. Last year, in fact, mobile data traffic was eight times more than the entire global Internet in 2000. While smartphones still only represent 12% of all mobile devices in the world, they’re doing the bulk of that data trafficking as they represent more than 82% of total mobile data traffic in the world. That’s a lot of apps we’re using.

    Some other random yet striking facts from the study:

  • Android tops iPhone for levels of data use.
  • The average amount of traffic consumed by smartphones tripled in 2011.
  • The top 1% of mobile users consumed 24% of all data traffic.
  • At this rate of growth, in 2016 two-thirds of the world’s data traffic will be video.
  • Mobile network connections will be 9 times faster by 2016 (whew).

    • As much as mobile devices are in demand and people continue to buy more and more of them, older devices must get disposed of properly somewhere. Since land is somewhat of a premium on Earth these days, I hear outer space has some available positions open.