How can the testers know the names and lifespans of your whole family tree from just a hair sample? I know they have databanks, but there’s no way they’ve existed long enough to have info on that many people from all over the world. I’ve always thought it was cool, but never understood the mechanics.
In: Biology
Yes to the commenters who point out that they’re supplementing the DNA data with traditional genealogical data that goes back centuries. But, also, note that [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com), for instance, does have the DNA of 25 million people at this point. It’s likely they can find a close match to your DNA from someone in their database already.
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