“Ancestral Redundancy” a talk by Andy Keogh

This evenings speaker was Andy Keogh who gave us an insight into Ancestral Redundancy which is an explanation of why there are not more people in this world if we were to assume that every individual has two none related parents going back in time.

It is estimated through an examination of Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), that we all descend from 10 or 12 females and not just one "Eve".  This means that many branches of families die out through time but also that ancestral lines merge through distant cousins producing children and therefore to some extent we all must be genetically related.

An example of close family procreation can be seen in the family tree of Charles 2 of Spain.  It can be seen that children where born as the result of the farther having offspring from his wife's daughter from a previous husband.

A fascinating talk giving much food for thought.