Human DNA Is Everywhere. That’s a Boon for Science – And an Ethical Quagmire.

On the beach. In the ocean. Traveling along riverways. In muggy Florida and chilly Ireland. Even floating through the air.

We cough, spit, shed and flush our DNA into all of these places and countless more. Signs of human life can be found nearly everywhere, short of isolated islands and remote mountaintops, according to a new University of Florida study.

That ubiquity is both a scientific boon and an ethical dilemma, say the UF researchers who sequenced this widespread DNA. The DNA was of such high quality that the scientists could identify mutations associated with disease and determine the genetic ancestry of nearby populations. They could even match genetic information to individual participants who had volunteered to have their errant DNA recovered.

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