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Scientists aim to trace ancient human migratory routes (Image: Chris Johns/National Geographic)

The Genographic Project will collect DNA samples from over 100,000 people worldwide to help piece together a picture of how the Earth was colonised.

Samples gathered from indigenous people and the general public will be subjected to lab and computer analysis to extract the valuable genetic data.

Team leader Dr Spencer Wells calls the plan "the Moon shot of anthropology".

We see this as part of the commons of our species Dr Spencer Wells, The Genographic Project

Participating in the five-year study are some of the world's top population geneticists, as well as leading experts in the fields of ancient DNA, linguistics and archaeology.

"We see this as a resource for humanity going into the future. It could potentially become the largest genetic database ever created," Dr Wells told the BBC News website.

The DNA double helix is held together by 2.9 billion chemical components called base-pairs Enlarge Image

Already, evidence from genetics and archaeology places the origin of modern humans (Homo sapiens) in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago.

It is thought, the first moderns to leave the continent set off around 60,000 years ago.

By studying the Y (or male) chromosome and mitochondrial DNA (which is passed down exclusively on the maternal line), scientists have pieced together a broad-brush picture of which populations moved where in the world - and when.

What is lacking, says Wells, is the fine detail, which could be filled in by this large-scale project.

Many Native American communities are strongly advised by their elders not to give samples François Balloux, University of Cambridge

"We know which markers on the Y chromosome to focus on; we know our way around the mitochondrial genome fairly well. We just haven't had the large sample sizes to apply these technologies properly," Dr Wells explained.

"There are still many questions we haven't answered. Was there any interbreeding with Neanderthals as modern humans moved into Europe? Did any of the migrations to the Americas come across the Pacific - or even the Atlantic?"

These and other unanswered questions form the research goals of the project. They include:

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  Who are the oldest populations in Africa - and therefore the world?
  
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  Did Alexander the Great's armies leave a genetic trail?
  
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  Who were the first people to colonise India?
  
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  Is it possible to obtain intact DNA from the remains of Homo erectus and other extinct hominids?
  
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  How has colonialism affected genetic patterns in Africa?
  
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  Was there any admixture with Homo erectus as modern humans spread throughout South-East Asia?
  
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  Is there any relationship between Australian Aboriginal genetic patterns and their oral histories?
  
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  What are the origins of differences between human groups?
  

"Sub-Saharan Africa harbours the spectrum of variation that will allow us to trace the very origin of our species as well as more recent incursions," said Himla Soodyall, principal project investigator for that region.

But some researchers said experience on other projects suggested this one could run into trouble with indigenous groups - particularly those, such as Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, with a history of exploitation.

"I don't know how they'll deal with getting samples from more sensitive places," commented François Balloux, a population geneticist at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Spencer Wells aims to build the world's largest genetic database ( Image: Mark Read)

"Amongst Australian Aborigines and Native Americans, the cultural resistance to co-operating with scientists is very strong.

"For example, many Native American communities are strongly advised by their elders not to give samples."

Ajay Royyuru, IBM's lead scientist on the Genographic Project was optimistic on the issue.

"We want to attract their participation by being extremely clear about what we do and do not do. For example, we are very clear about not trying to exploit their genetic diversity for medical uses," he told the BBC News website.

Project directors said they had already sought advice from indigenous leaders about their participation.

The project will shed light on the origins of human diversity (Image: Jodi Cobb/National Geographic)

IBM says it will use sophisticated analytical techniques to interpret the information in the biobank and find patterns in the genetic data. The IT giant will also provide the computing infrastructure for the project.

Kits sold to the public contain cheek swabs used to scrape the inside of the mouth for a DNA sample. The swabs can then be mailed to a central laboratory for analysis.

After four to six weeks, the results of the analysis will appear on the website behind an anonymous password contained in the kit.

The exact budget available for the study will depend on how many test kits are sold to the public. The net proceeds will go back into the research and into a "legacy project" to support indigenous peoples.

The Genographic Project's directors emphasise that the information in the database will be made accessible to scientists studying human migrations.

"We see this as part of the commons of our species. We're not going to be patenting anything - the information will all be in the public domain," said Dr Wells.

HUMAN MIGRATION ROUTES  Map shows first migratory routes taken by humans, based on surveys of different types of the male Y chromosome. "Adam" represents the common ancestor from which all Y chromosomes descended  Research based on DNA testing of 10,000 people from indigenous populations around the world Source: The Genographic Project

By Clive Cookson in London October 29, 2012 2:28 pm The Financial Times

Preparations are made in New York for the arrival of hurricane Sandy

Sandy is a hybrid monster. It combines a powerful hurricane, laden with energy and moisture from the tropical Atlantic, and a winter storm fuelled by the southward plunge of Arctic air.

Although late-season hurricanes sometimes undergo a similar “extra-tropical transition” as they travel up from the tropics, this normally happens safely out to sea over the Atlantic. Sandy’s path is extremely unusual because a static area of high pressure south of Greenland has blocked the jet stream route northeastward across the ocean and instead forced the hurricane into the continental US.

“There is no precedent in hurricane records extending back to 1851 of a storm at this latitude taking this path,” said Mark Saunders, professor of climate prediction at University College London.

Weather historians are struggling to come up with a precedent for the ferocity of this superstorm, generated as cold air spreading south from Canada feeds into the warm, moist circulation that Sandy brought up from the Caribbean.

It has features in common with the Long Island Express hurricane that killed about 700 people in September 1938, but every storm has its own peculiarities, which make it unwise to rely too much on history when predicting impact.

“Sandy... has grown to over 3,200km in diameter and is now the largest hurricane in Atlantic storm history,” said Jane Strachan, a marine climatologist at Reading University in the UK.

The biggest difference between now and 1938 is accurate hurricane forecasting, based on satellite observations and supercomputer models of the atmosphere. The Long Island Express was so lethal because people were unprepared; the US weather bureau knew there was a hurricane out in the Atlantic but assumed it would follow the usual path away from land.

This time the world’s meteorological agencies have known for a few days that Sandy would hit the US coast. They have fed steadily more refined predictions into the National Hurricane Center in Florida, which pulled them together into an increasingly urgent series of warnings for federal, state and local authorities.

Sandy threatens devastation in several ways. Near the coastline the “storm surge” will cause most damage, as the hurricane’s winds push water from the sea up against the land, like a slow-motion tsunami. This effect is most serious when there are extensive shallows offshore, as around New York City, where the NHC is forecasting a surge of 6ft to 12ft – exacerbated by unusually high tides.

Sustained winds up to 85mph (140kph) are likely to blow down trees and power lines and damage buildings over thousands of square miles. Some estimates suggest that as many as 10m households may lose power.

Then, besides the coastal storm surge, prolonged heavy rain will cause inland flooding. The NHC expects rainfall of four to eight inches over the mid-Atlantic states with as much as 12 inches possible. In the Appalachian mountains one to three feet of snow will accumulate.

Wang particle could help explain gravity

By Clive Cookson in Aberdeen September 4, 2012 5:55 pm The Financial Times

The summer’s big scientific news was the discovery of the “god particle” – the Higgs boson, at Cern, the European nuclear physics centre near Geneva. But Higgs has needed back-up, because it explains how matter acquires mass but not how gravity pulls matter together.

Now it may have a partner – nicknamed the Wang particle – which could help explain gravity.

Experiments to investigate the proposed “scalar gravitational particle”, to give it its more formal name, will begin in November or December at Cern.

In the so-called Standard Model, which particle physicists have built up over the past 50 years, the Higgs boson is crucial to explain how matter acquires its substance or mass. But it does not explain how the force of gravity acts on mass. As a candidate for the long-sought “graviton”, the particle that transmits gravity, the Wang particle could fill that gap.

Prof Wang said the gravitational particle would manifest itself most clearly in a supernova, the most extreme concentration of energy and matter known. In a supernova, a dying star collapses in on itself, triggering a type of explosion second only to the original Big Bang in its violent release of radiation.

Astronomers observe about one supernova every year in the entire universe. Each one briefly emits as much light as an entirely galaxy with 100bn stars.

“No existing theory can explain how so much energy is emitted in a supernova,” said Prof Wang. “My theory is that a scalar particle – one of the most elementary types of particle in the universe and similar to the Higgs boson – is at work in these starbursts and responsible for the additional energy that causes the explosion to take place.”

Supernovae are not just astronomical curiosities. They are vital for the chemistry of the universe, because most chemical elements can only be created by fusing atomic nuclei together in the intense temperatures and pressures inside supernovae.

Although such conditions cannot be simulated on Earth, scientists at Cern plan to investigate the Wang theory at a facility called Isolde, which carries out a nuclear fusion process akin to the formation of new elements in a supernova.

The discovery of the Higgs particle put the last touch to the “standard model”, which describes the workings of the universe, but it was never intended to explain gravity or to unify Einstein’s theory of relativity with quantum theory, which attempts to explain the universe at the subatomic level. Physicists are now keen to move on to the next stage and produce a “general theory of everything”.

If the Wang particle exists, it could play a key role in that theory of everything. But it may be decades before we know for sure. After all, the Higgs particle was originally proposed by Prof Peter Higgs and colleagues almost 50 years ago.

Behind the scenes and on the street women are now stepping out of the shadows and emerging as a vital political force in Egypt

Campaign trail: Muslim sisters Oumayma Kamel and Heba Hassan take a break during a visit to the village of Al Saf, Cairo in June this year. Kamel’s laptop shows a sticker for Freedom and Justice Party candidate Mohammed Morsi, elected shortly afterwards as Egyptian president. Kamel is now a senior adviser to Morsi

Sondos Asem was five years old when Hosni Mubarak’s security men broke into the family home after midnight, dragged her father from his bed and locked him up in jail for 18 months. The memory would scar her for life. “We were young, we were scared, it was a traumatising experience for women and children,” she recalls. Her father’s sin was membership of the political bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed Islamist movement that tormented Egypt’s dictatorial regimes for decades before helping to bring it to an abrupt end in last year’s revolution. Belonging to a Muslim Brotherhood family imposed a life of clandestine activity and intrigue that forced Asem to hide her identity for much of her teenage years. Then she saw her professional ambitions constrained by employers’ reluctance to associate themselves with Islamists. “All repressed societies are careful what they say or to whom,” she says.

To Asem’s relief, those days are now gone and the Brotherhood is rapidly consolidating its political power in the Arab world’s largest nation. Her father’s publishing house is back in business and she, even at the young age of 25, is an active member of the women’s branch of the Brotherhood – an arm of the movement whose activism has long been overshadowed by the men.

Asem studied English and communications and now edits the Brotherhood’s English website. She also travels with the organisation’s political party, Freedom and Justice (FJP), as its leaders attempt to promote their cause as a credible democratic project to a west long sceptical about Islamists’ intentions and fearful that they are on their way to imposing their Islamist vision.

We meet in her parents’ marble-floored living room in Dreamland, a compound on the outskirts of Cairo where houses are encircled by manicured lawns and golf courses. It is an upper-middle-class haven that feels a world apart from the dust and chaos of the capital. Asem looks younger than her years and she dresses more fashionably than other Brotherhood women, her body wrapped in a long checkered skirt and a fitted black jacket over a buttoned white shirt, her headscarf shorter than a typical sister’s. Like other Muslim sisters, however, she is coming out, openly sharing the contribution of women in the more than 80-year history of the Brotherhood. It is a tale that not only sheds light on the inner workings of a secretive community but also helps explain its political potency.

For Asem, the women’s impact in the movement is as important as that of men. “Women do most of the work on the ground, especially in campaigns. They are larger in numbers, and in influence in campaigns, they can be more convincing,” says Asem, relating how during the race for the presidency earlier this year, she challenged herself and her Islamist female friends to mobilise 100 voters each – and succeeded. “Some women might have convinced 300 people … We had very little time. But that’s what helped the [Mohamed Morsi, Brotherhood candidate] victory.”

Islamism and women’s empowerment do not usually go hand in hand, and for good reason. Islamist organisations, which mix religion and politics and aspire to an idealistic state that existed in the days of the Prophet Mohammed, preach that the woman’s place is in the home, her role confined to good wife and mother. Islamist scholars (who have historically been male) can point to verses in the Koran and sayings of the prophet to justify discrimination against women, including the fact that they are not suited for wilaya al-ozma (the great ruler role).

But the Muslim sisters are something of a paradox, and one that defies the Islamist stereotype. There is no denying that they are skilful political activists and are now increasingly relied upon to further the goals of the FJP. What they are not, however, are feminists looking for the type of freedom that liberals and secular women cherish. Hard-working and determined, the Muslim sisters believe in economic and political advancement but are more docile when it comes to their role within the family. They see feminism at best as the path to the destruction of the family. “Most sisters are professionals, very active, very energetic, very strong, but they don’t have feminist consciousness,” says Oumayma Abu Bakr, an Egyptian expert on Islam and gender.

Sondos Asem, 25, activist: ‘Women do most of the work on the ground, especially in campaigns. They are larger in numbers, and they can be more convincing’

It is only now, moreover, as they join the FJP, that they are being offered an opportunity for influence. The sisters have never had any significant say within the Brotherhood, even though they make up 50 per cent of the movement (out of a total membership estimated at one million when the group was still banned). They have never paid monthly dues, never voted for the leadership and never been rewarded for their contribution with any official position. Many of the sisters, including Egypt’s first lady, Naglaa Ali, have mostly engaged in da’awa (preaching the message of Islam) and social work. These two activities cannot be dissociated from each other: those who they help through charities run by the Brotherhood, including schools and hospitals, are also more likely to listen to their Islamist message.

Gradually, however, the sisters have become more engaged in politics – a process that is now accelerating, and they hope will lead to recognition of their critical role. A few weeks ago the FJP, no doubt eager to calm liberal (and western) jitters over the Islamists’ plans for women in post-revolution Egypt, launched a series of workshops to develop women cadres, teaching them everything from campaigning to media skills. One morning in early October I listened to Sondos Asem’s mother, Manal al-Hassan, a party official and communications professor, lecturing women on the power of the media and how to distinguish between true and fake news. Television channels spread lies about the Brotherhood, she told the attendees, because they are in a struggle for survival with the Islamists – for them it is “to be or not to be”, she said in English. The media is used to denigrating women who wear the veil, she went on, but all this mischief can be countered. “They say the Brotherhood has the strongest media. Why is that?” she asked. One of the women in the audience shot back the right answer: “The Brotherhood is strong in face-to-face communication.” A week earlier, in the same conference room in downtown Cairo, the acting head of the party Essam el-Erian reassured the women that their role was central, not merely supportive, and promised that it would be “revitalised” in all fields.

One of those attending the workshop was Fatma al-Zomor, a warm, enthusiastic teacher from a village near Cairo who was recently elected as assistant head of the teachers’ syndicate, a union in which elections had been banned under Mubarak. I had first met her two days earlier in the ramshackle offices of the syndicate and she had told me that the time had arrived for women to highlight their role in the Brotherhood. “Before the revolution the Muslim Brotherhood had a red line – and that red line was the sisters. They would not put them in the limelight because they feared for them. They had pledged that they would not allow the security services to arrest women.”