Yes there are definitely more pressing issues on this planet than looking worse. However I feel that everyone in their formative years should be encouraged or even pushed to develop the best habits possible, while curbing and stopping bad habits in order to ensure they grow up to be the best looking version of themselves. These bad habits include things like poor posture, mouth breathing, predominately soft food diet etc that all may (some maybe more than others I must add) manifest through epigenetics in an undeveloped looking face.

With how much looks matter now especially towards dating I feel like this should be at the forefront of every parents mind if they are looking to have children. I personally feel that epigentics has negatively affected my appearance, when I look at baby pictures of myself age <5 years old I have a well developed wider face appearance with good forward growth. Proof of my base good genetics in regards to looks are shown through my parents and extended family .However when I look back at my habits growing up it makes sense as to why I never developed properly. I was eating mostly soft foods causing an overbite that later also turned into a cross bite causing asymmetry, I had developed forward head posture which may have contributed to mouth breathing and may have elongated my face shape. I don't look terrible, especially without acne just feel I haven't reached my genetic potential

All previously mentioned things could easily be remedied with the proper foresight, and the benefits of which are profound and lifelong, not only are you better looking as a result but you are also healthier as well. Of course there are somethings that may be out of ones control such as a tongue tie for instance (which causes mouth breathing) may need surgery to be removed, but that is an easy fix, there are other harder ones i'm sure but most could likely be remedied. Of course there's also the issue of children being stubborn, I for one was and its likely that if these good habits were presented to me, it'd be unlikely id follow them on a consistent basis due to ignorance, so since every one is different it may require many different solutions to which falls on the parents.

Of course there may be another reason unrelated to all of this for my current unfortunate appearance. Despite establishing previously that I have good genetics my parents did have me at an older than typical age. My Dad was mid forties and mom late 30's. Though crucially my Dad while good looking especially for his current age, does smoke, drink and eats a relatively poor diet all potentially affecting sperm quality. So perhaps a fathers habits before conception should also seriously be taken into account before reproducing. Though while this is true, as previously mentioned I looked perfectly fine as a little kid so this may not be as likely in my case unless these things show up later in life, though i'm not knowledgeable enough to make a decisive claim of whether that is likely or not.

In short while not all may agree that looks are fundamental to a happy life, few will argue that health isn't and so serious efforts into spreading awareness of the negative affects of poor development should be taken into consideration. One particular habit which may seem harmless is primarily eating soft foods as a child. A potential consequence of which is a narrower weaker jaw, which in turn causes tooth crowding, not only negatively affecting appearance but health too.

I am applying to this PhD student ship and idk if my answer is too vague or not specific enough. The character limit (1500) is not letting me say much so I said this:

What motivates and excites you about pursuing a career in research? Tell us about the area you would like to pursue your PhD in and why?

As a population geneticist and computational biologist, I aim to integrate genetics with linguistics, geography, and history to understand how human populations spread, how culture and biology interacted through movement and contact, and how this shaped genetic structure, selection and variation over time.

This focus grew from my undergraduate research with Dr xxx, where I led an independent project on the spatio-temporal population genetics of xxx, a region of deep admixture among modern humans and, recent evidence suggests, hominins. When my local ancestry inference methods failed to separate Eurasian populations, I turned to ancient DNA analysis. What seemed to be the end of my project showed me that modern populations are poor proxies for ancestral ones, and that even advanced methods can obscure complex histories of migration and admixture. What I first saw as a barrier became a corridor to the career I hope to pursue.

That shift in thinking is what I hoped to pass on as co-founder of the xxx Machine Learning Student Interest Group, giving talks on broadening how we think about methods of ancestry inference to help underclassmen make the same leap in how they see the field, something I hope to keep doing as a professor and scientist.

I now want to expand my questions to the genealogical analysis of ancient populations and archaic hominins, and to developing methods that model past populations directly, to understand the genomic history that shaped human genetics across time and space.

For context this is an ancient dna lab

Please help a confused first timer 😭😭

My task is to identify the chromosomes and determine the karyotype. I've been trying for hours, but I feel like I'm getting everything wrong. If someone could write which chromosome corresponds to each one above the image, I would be very very grateful

Given that the EEFs were present in northern latitudes in Europe for thousands of years, is there any consensus on regional variations among these groups, i.e. did some groups have red hair, blue eyes etc or were all groups typical of the usual images we see of EEFs?

Hi everyone, I have a background in genetics (bachelor in biomedical science, majored in medical genomics). I graduated 2 years ago and have been trying to find a role even remotely related to my field to understand where I want to go from here (which hasn’t been successful sadly).

Before my undergrad I was so interested in research. However most of my degree was dying Covid, which resulted in pretty much all of the lab component to be online - aka I didn’t get a chance for much hands on practical experience.

Im currently working in management in a public hospitals and I really am not enjoying it. And I’ve been actively trying to look for what I want to do long term career wise and subsequently what further studies I would need to complete for that.

I really enjoy helping people, and working completely autonomous roles have made me realise that I don’t want to be locked in a room alone for most of my day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE and thrive on reading and finding out the ‘why’. I love discussing it with people who are in the same field- it fuels me!! My strongest suit is biology and I do struggle with maths and computers.

Living in a country that’s not my home country, has made me realise that I would also like to earn good money (and i understand that money isn’t everything, but after living paycheck to paycheck, I would ideally want to live somewhat comfortably and do all that I can for my family too. And for that reason I am looking for a career where I will earn 100K+ relatively quickly (not immediately I know, I’m ambitious but not delusional haha) and not after 5-6 years of experience (my further studies will also result in substantial student loans).

I’m not sure I’ve come across anything that has ticked most of the things I would like out of a career. I don’t see myself working bench side for years and years. I have looked at MSL but I think I would like to keep it as an option much later in my career (as it will require a very strong and extensive portfolio). I looked at Patent attorney and as lucrative as the pay is, i don’t think I will enjoy it. I’ve looked at Genetic Counselor, but I’m not certain how good the job opportunities and the pay is in Australia (where I am currently and hoping to migrate to permanently) - I do like a lot of aspects about a GC tho.

Another thing that really worries me is that the possibility that I will have to leave Australia for a while before I MAY be able to permanently migrate here, is very REAL. And I don’t want to go into further studies here for a career path that might have a great future here, and if and when I have to relocate somewhere else (temp or permanently), I end up having no prospects in another country.

Anywho, I apologise for all the ramble, but if anyone has any ideas about roles that you think might suit me, with all that I have mentioned, please let me know. I love genetics and I love biology and I love people and I want to start with my career journey asap.

Thank you all so so much for reading!!

Hi! I'm finishing an MSc in bioinformatics at a Canadian university and am really not sure what I want to do next. I'm currently doing dry lab genetics research and enjoy the coding work, but I wish it was more social and I don't find the phenotype I'm working on that interesting (although I've heard that a Master's is mainly about acquiring the skills and less so about finding and working on *the* phenotype you're most interested in).

This past year, I've been trying to figure out if I want to do a phd or not and I have a few options:

1. Stay in the same lab. (The "easy" option, I'd get a stipend, could travel to conferences, and would have a secure "job" for the time being; but I'd probably work on things that don't interest me that much and aren't that fulfilling for me.)
2. Go to a different lab. (Where? I'm interested in psychiatric / behavioural / personality genetics and am a citizen of the EU, Canada, and the US. not super keen on the US, i like the work life balance in Europe more, but i have family in Canada.) (Also aware that if I want to start a phd in 2027 I would need to start now or last month to find supervisors / apply to programs.)
3. Go into industry. (What jobs are there? What are they like?)

Another issue is that although I find the above genetics fields interesting, I'm not sure if I would actually like working in them, if that makes sense? I've also been looking into environmental / climate change / conservation stuff and have been thinking about going into that too (like analyses of environmental DNA for example). But again, I'm not sure if I would actually like working in this area, and I also have no experience in it really. (This has also been a bigger life issue of trying to figure out what I'm actually interested in and what I want to do with my life, but I don't think I can get help with that from a reddit forum lol)

If anyone has any insights or advice that would be greatly appreciated!

Additionally, if anyone has any recommendations for good unis / phd programs for the genetics fields above that would be great. I've found some interesting ones at Karolinska Institutet, Boulder university in Colorado, and King's College London (not a UK citizen so very expensive which sucks), but there may be more I'm missing. As well, I would like a program where I can take courses to get a better / more well-rounded genetics education because I feel like I haven't really gotten that in my background (BSc in computer science), but it seems like the most important thing is the supervisor and if they're doing work you find interesting, have grants, and have an active lab.

Lastly, I'm aware that I could look up and figure out a lot of these things on my own, but I would really appreciate talking to people about these things and getting some advice from people either in these fields or who know more about stuff than I do.

Thank you!

hello! I'm a current college sophomore looking into future career paths since i probably need to start specializing soon. My top two interests are toxicology and genetics. So i'm asking yall and the toxicology people the same/similar questions to compare and see which one fits me better!

1. i'm currently majoring in biology with a minor in statistics. is this ideal or should i change my major/minor? i'm also considering a chemistry minor instead bc i currently have a B/C average in Calc 2 (75% avg on exams)

2. Is there a lot of job opportunities for this career field (Midwest USA)? Is the earning potential high without going to med school? (i have vasovagal syncope and faint like a goat when i see/lose blood lol)

3. Is your school path more application or memorization? is your job the same?

4. Do you enjoy your job? Do you like the work-life balance?

5. (genetics specific) Do you do a lot of hands on research, or is it more patient assessment? I want to go into fertility and parental type genetics, and help people have healthy babies, whether their own blood or not! I also am interested in genetic testing for carriers and mutations that could be passed to offspring, or spontaneous mutations in general. (i am very pro-adoption, those kids need homes too! why spend a few grand for a baby you have to pop out if you can give a lonely already existing baby a home?)

If you read this far, thank you!! I'm excited to hear back from those experienced in the field.

And, when did you become interested in this?

Teen's interest is biology. He spends a huge portion of his time researching the topics discussed in this group.

Thank you :)

An important story has been published on genetic research gone wrong. Here are some highlights from the article:

"Seven days after the girl’s medical team infused trillions of viruses carrying the recipe for the base editor into her spinal fluid, she died of a severe immune reaction linked to the therapy, Science and Retraction Watch can now reveal."

"Leading the effort was Zilong Qiu, a neuroscientist at the university’s brain center, the Songjiang Research Institute. At the time, in late March 2025, Qiu was one of several researchers around the world vying to push base editors—a more precise form of the powerful gene editor CRISPR—into custom treatments for children with rare diseases. One month earlier, KJ Muldoon, an infant with a life-threatening metabolic disorder, had quietly received his first intravenous infusion of one such treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia."

"Four of the experts Science asked to assess the research, including one of the original reviewers of the Nature manuscript, expressed concerns about how well the primate proof-of-concept study was conducted. The submitted paper had no control samples to show the stain was selectively highlighting the gene editor."

African genomes contain more genetic variation than populations on any other continent¹

I am confused by this fact. If we imagine an unsupervised PCA chart of all humans, does this imply that a given unadmixed subsaharan population has a chance of clustering more closely to a Papuan islander or a Han Chinese person than to some other, distant subsaharan population?

I have been reading about genetic clusters, and Rosenberg (2002) found that, at k = 5, the clusters resembled these groups:

• Sub-Saharan Africa;
• Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia;
• East Asia;
• Oceania;
• the Americas.

On the Wikipedia article Human Genetic Clustering, however, I notice that seem take issue with the HGDP-CEPH panel that Rosenberg used, and found the following, somewhat absurd, hypothetical:

...arbitrarily invoking five population clusters in an attempt to test the genomic validity of scientific racism instead yields three "races" within Africa, one encompassing most of Europe and mainland Asia, and one encompassing Australia, the Americas, and the Pacific Islands.

I am not sure what the editor is trying to argue here. I realise that Wikipedia is not necessarily the best source for this subject, but the claim strikes me as potentially misleading. Is it suggesting that a PCA plot of all human populations, using the first two principal components, would reveal three distinct sub-Saharan African clusters alongside two broader clusters encompassing the rest of the world?

My instinct is that it is some sort of genealogical red herring and not a real genetic result.

Rosenberg NA, Pritchard JK, Weber JL, Cann HM, Kidd KK, Zhivotovsky LA, Feldman MW. Genetic structure of human populations. Science. 2002 Dec 20;298(5602):2381-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1078311. PMID: 12493913.

I took a genetics class in undergrad and it was really hard! I had to spend a lot of time on it to get a B. I also didn't find it not that interesting and a little boring.

A few years out of college I've gotten more into my career in botany. I find myself feeling a pull to pursue plant taxonomy/systematics in grad school because phylogenies and evolution is fascinating. I know that plant systematics would demand more intense genetic classes. I was wondering if anyone can speak on initially struggling with genetics, but getting good at it in grad school and getting to enjoy it more.

Thanks.

I'm hoping this doesn't break the "no posts containing genetic testing results" rule. I'm mostly curious about how this test is conducted? And if there's an explanation for why false Punjabi results happen?

I got my Helix test results, and it says I'm 5% Punjabi. There are a few problems with this. While five percent isn't much, none of my physical traits suggest that (blond hair, blue eyes). And I'm super into genealogy, and I like to think that I know a decent amount about my ancestors; I've never been given any reason to believe I have roots in India. While it'd be cool---I love India---it just seems completely untrue. Looking at other Reddit posts, it seems like it's happened to other people, false percentages of Punjabi specifically. I'm wondering if anyone here has had a similar experience? Or if anyone knows why Helix gives presumably false answers? Like, why PUNJABI of all things?

Edit: I don't know where to begin responding to everyone. Thank you for your responses, even if some weren't what I'd anticipated. I'm realizing I left out an important piece of context: both my parents (both of whom are, to my knowledge, my biological parents) have done genetic testing before. Neither of them was told they had roots in India. That's a big part of why I'm confused. I'm not trying to cherry-pick my test results; I'd just like to understand why I'd be told different things/what the margin of error is for tests like these. But I didn't communicate that clearly, so I understand some of the conclusions you guys have come to.

Hi,

I built an interactive model/lesson to understand how DNA replication initiation works. In particular, under replication stress. There are very few interactive educational tools out there, and even fewer that go to the depth of molecular biology research. I wanted to create something like a research paper, but actually make it accessible (Research papers are not an easy read)

Note, this is not a promotion, I'm not selling anything or looking for anything in return

Anyways, check it out!

Origin Firing Timing:
https://anava13.github.io/Dissertation-External-features/replication-initiation-tour.html

Also,

More DNA Replication Initiation:
https://anava13.github.io/Dissertation-External-features/replication-initiation.html

Telomere Elongation:
https://anava13.github.io/Dissertation-External-features/telomere_workflow.html

So my entire life I’ve always been curious about my blonde, fair skinned genetics. So here’s the thing, my parents are both descendants of German origin. My Dad especially, his late mother(my beautiful wonderful Oma) RIP..was straight off the ship from Bavaria. she migrated here with her family when she was a little girl. Mom’s side was here well before that but that’s neither here nor there.

My dad and all 10 of his brothers and sisters were born with dark hair and they’ve literally never been sunburnt a single day in their lives, my late grandmother(Dad’s mom) included. However my sister and I, along with all of our cousins on our dads side of the family are as blonde as can be and our skin will absolutely blister if we’re exposed for longer than 30 minutes under a bright sun. Is there a scientific reason behind this? How did my generation of relatives come out looking like a bunch of yodeling goat herders in the Swiss alps while our parents however, only need a little SPF 8 on their nose and necks when they go to the beach?

I know they say genetics skip a generation but is that really true? I’m hoping someone smarter than myself can help me out…thanks!

I see the scientists of this sub dutifully answering questions people had about career paths, salaries and educational paths that a career in genetics entails, but I noticed that despite all these questions no one really asked what the day to day workings all these different jobs were like.

How was your daily life changed because of the job you work? Did your job let you make any new friends? Were you angry today because a computer froze and lost two hours worth of work?

Those types of questions you know?

This isn't a generalisation of careers in genetics either, I'm genuinely really interested in what *you* do. I'd love to hear anecdotes about something specific to your line of work! I think it's amazing how you all work under the branch of genetics but you all have such different perspectives and experiences.

Plus, this might benefit someone hoping to get into your line of work, something that feels routine and mundane for could be extraordinary for someone who's never done what you do before!

Dad had really light blonde hair as a kid but it darkened to be dark blonde almost looks brown

Mom has strawberry blonde hair

Maternal grandmother has dark brown hair

And so does the maternal grandfather too.

Paternal grandmother has blonde hair

Paternal grandfather has brown hair

Also the dad's brother has medium brown hair.

Obviously a healthy baby is more important than the color of their hair, but I find genetics to be interesting and I feel like the gingers it's always a surprise of the offspring hair color unless they already had a child with that came father. Plus it'd be interesting to see who's answer is correct.

I’ve noticed in 23 and me most of my Western European friends results are broken down into 0.0%
Percentages. Like my Italian friend is actually a million different ethnicities according to the test.
I’ve noticed a lot of My jewish friends will have 100% ashkenazi Jewish. I find it very difficult to understand why the dna tests is able to
Identify such small amounts of each ethnicity in me and yet so many of my friends are 100% ashkenazi, a group of people who were migrating across Europe for thousands of years and undoubtedly were breeding with local populations. I recently met a 6’4 with blue eyes guy that told me his results are 100% ashkenazi. And my other 100% ashki friend is 5ft tall with dark features. How can that genetic variation happen while still remaining 100%?? Meanwhile the test picks up on 0.3 % Asian in me???? Very confusing and odd.
Explanations helpful

Hi! Im a college student, and genetics isn't my strongest subject. I know this word problem is probably super easy and I'm stupid that I don't seem to get it, but I've been looking at this homework for these past few days and it's due tomorrow, and I still can't get it. Did I do something wrong while answering it? I dont know if I'm supposed to scramble the letters to make a new word, or if there's something that I missed. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you :')

+I wrote my first mutant dna strand wrong so I rewrote it at the bottom, if anyone gets confused. Thank you again!

I am in an introductory genetics class and need help and guidance. I got my first test and got a 61. Average was a 72. However now we are onto pedigrees, punnet squares and nuclear division. I think I know somewhat of the material but scared I’ll do bad again. I’m majoring in evolution biology

My friend recently took a 23andme test where he scored close to 100% Levantine genetics and was given R1b Pf7589 on his paternal haplogroup. What does this mean? Indigenous? Crusader ? Maybe Varangian from Byzantine conquest ?