The popularity of DNA testing has surged in the past few years, and companies such as AncestryDNA, 23andMe and Family Tree DNA are reaping the benefits. In 2017, Ancestry alone went from a database of just over 3 million testers in January to almost 7 million in its database by December, according to analyst estimates. With an aggressive marketing campaign and efforts to make their test more genealogy friendly, 23andMe comes in at a not-so-close second, with about 3 million t

Today I was asked a question from someone who is trying to prove a relationship within his family: "How can DNA tell me I'm related to someone if that person is dead and was never tested?" That's really a great question, and here is a relatively short answer: We inherit all of our DNA from our parents. First, there is autosomal DNA (atDNA), which makes up our 46 chromosomes. This is what AncestryDNA and 23andMe test specifically; the third largest company, FamilyTreeDNA, te