For DNA Day and more
It’s that time of year again, when folks in the DNA testing community look towards National DNA Day — celebrating two of the most important milestones in the history of human genomic research.
April 25 — next Saturday — is the celebration of both the completion of the Human Genome Project and the discovery of the DNA double helix, credited to Cambridge University scientists James D. Watson and Frances H.C. Crick.1
Of course, only one of those events actually occurred on April 25th. Watson and Crick had already announced their belief that they might have determined the double-helix structure of DNA back on February 28, 1953; they then announced they were sure of it on April 25th.2 And — let there be no mistake here — it also wasn’t only Watson and Crick who deserve credit here: an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer named Rosalind Franklin did much of the early data modeling.3
And it was on April 14, 2003, that the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the Department of Energy (DOE) and their partners in the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium announced the successful completion of the Human Genome Project.4
But hey… any excuse for a sale, right? And there are sales, for National DNA Day and just because we’re all staying home, from three of the DNA companies:
Family Tree DNA: Its autosomal test, called Family Finder, is on sale for $49 (usually $79). Its full sequence mtDNA test — for tracing the direct maternal line — is $139 (usually $159). Pricing on YDNA tests — for tracing the direct paternal line — are similarly reduced: the Y-37 test (usually $119) is on sale for $99; the Y-111 test (usually $249) is on sale for $199; and the Big Y-700 test (usually $449) is on sale for $379. There are also upgrades on sale. Good through April 26, excludes shipping.
MyHeritage Stay at Home DNA Sale: Its autosomal test (usually $79) is on sale for $39. Good through April 30, and includes free shipping if two or more kits are ordered.
LivingDNA: Its ancestry kit (usually $99) is on sale for $69; the wellbeing kit (usually $129) is on sale for $79; and its wellbeing and ancestry bundle kit (usually $179) is on sale for $99. Free shipping if three or more kits are ordered. No expiration date is stated.
No sales announced as of yet from AncestryDNA or 23andMe…
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “DNA on sale 2020,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 19 Apr 2020).
SOURCES
- See National Human Genome Research Institute, “About National DNA Day” (https://www.genome.gov/ : accessed 19 Apr 2020). ↩
- “Feb 28, 1953: Watson and Crick discover chemical structure of DNA,” This Day in History (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history : accessed 19 Apr 2020). ↩
- See Wikipedia (https://www.wikipedia.com), “Rosalind Franklin,” rev. 18 Apr 2020. ↩
- See ibid., “Human Genome Project,” rev. 16 Apr 2020. ↩
This recipe will help you celebrate the anniversary. And yes it works: I have tried it!
https://www.scienceinschool.org/2006/issue1/dnacocktail