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We Hope He Wore Gloves

Mar 26, 2009

Two New Scientist writers, Peter Aldhous and Michael Reilly, show how simple it is to steal someone's genome and have it analyzed. From a water glass that Peter used, Michael was able to send DNA to be amplified and analyzed by an unnamed lab services company. Michael also submitted a sample of Peter's DNA from a used condom for analysis at DecodeMe. They received results from both samples. "So what would a hacker who had taken Peter's DNA have learned about him?" they ask. The results covered Peter's risk for a variety of conditions, from baldness to exfoliation glaucoma and Alzheimer's disease.

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