Forensic Anthropology Marches On

Nobody in Sicily hates anybody worse than Boasian cultural anthropologists hate forensic anthropologists, because the latter are paid to look at human biological differences to do useful things, like solve crimes.

DNA 'could predict your surname'
By Paul Rincon, BBC News science reporter

Forensic scientists could use DNA retrieved from a crime scene to predict the surname of the suspect, according to a new British study. It is not perfect, but could be an important investigative tool when combined with other intelligence.

The method exploits genetic likenesses between men who share the same surname, and may help prioritise inquiries. Details of the research from the University of Leicester, UK, appear in the latest edition of Current Biology.

The technique is based on work comparing the Y chromosomes of men with the same surname. The Y chromosome is a package of genetic material found only in males. It is passed down from father to son, just like a surname....

For the study, Turi King and colleagues from the University of Leicester recruited at random 150 pairs of men who shared a British surname and compared their Y chromosomes. Across the sample, the authors determined that just under a quarter of the pairs had recent common ancestry.

Given the small sample size and the random recruitment, Dr Jobling said he was surprised at the strength of the signal. Sharing a surname also significantly raised the likelihood of sharing the same type of Y chromosome, with the link getting stronger as the surname gets rarer.

The researchers used the data to roughly test the predictive power of the method. They found the approach was most useful for less common names, with a 34% chance of prediction in the 80 least common surnames from the 150-name sample.

"This range of surnames makes up 42% of the population. So we're looking at prediction in just under half of the population. We have to exclude the Smiths and Joneses," Dr Jobling said.

Speaking of anthropologists, here's a nugget from the NY Sun's article on Larry Summers being driven out of the presidency of Harvard:

In a recent interview, an anthropology professor who clashed with Mr. Summers and subsequently quit as dean of Harvard's graduate school of arts and sciences, Peter Ellison, recounted an early conversation in which Mr. Summers said professors in the social sciences could usually be ranked in terms of intellect. "President Summers asked me, didn't I agree that, in general, economists are smarter than political scientists, and political scientists are smarter than sociologists?" Mr. Ellison told the Boston Globe. "I laughed nervously and didn't reply."

Actually, Larry was being diplomatic in that he didn't go on to finish his chain of logic by saying: "And who's the dumbest of them all? Right! Cultural anthropologists!"

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer