gene_tailor's Journal: Genes/"race"

FYI: I'm a geneticist. I believe that the concept of "race" has no place in a scientific discussion of human variation because it has no real genetic meaning or validity.

Last time this topic came up in a /. discussion I couldn't put my finger on scientific refs for this (although I have read some), so for future reference here's a new publication on the topic: PNAS Dec 2002. Summary: Brazilian researchers examined a population which was very "racially mixed" (European, African, Amerindian ancestors). They found it was impossible to predict "race" from genetic differences within their sample. There were some differences but those were not correlated with skin or hair color. Even people considered to be "white" had mitochondrial DNA with 33 percent of genes that were of Amerindian ancestry and 28 percent African. "There is wide agreement among anthropologists and human geneticists that, from a biological standpoint, human races do not exist," Sergio Pena and colleagues at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil and the University of Porto in Portugal wrote in their report in PNAS.

I'll add more refs later as I find them.