Libby Copeland

Writer. Editor. Cultural Spelunker.

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Libby Copeland November 15, 2017
She thought she was Irish, until a DNA test opened a 100-year-old mystery (The Washington Post, Longreads Best of 2017)We are only just beginning to grapple with what it means to cheaply and easily uncover our genetic heritage. Photo by Hein Boekhout

She thought she was Irish, until a DNA test opened a 100-year-old mystery (The Washington Post, Longreads Best of 2017)

Originally Published: Washington Post • July 27, 2017 • Longreads Best of 2017 pick; viral response with over 94,000 shares on Facebook alone; ranked among “The 100 Most Engaging Stories of the Year” for 2017 by Chartbeat, which measures how much time people spend reading stories

Five years ago, Alice Collins Plebuch made a decision that would alter her future — or really, her past.

She sent away for a “just-for-fun DNA test.” When the tube arrived, she spit and spit until she filled it up to the line, and then sent it off in the mail. She wanted to know what she was made of…

Read the Full Article.

Categories: Best Of, Science, Technology, Washington Post Tags: Alice Collins Plebuch, at-home DNA testing, DNA, recreational genomics

Libby Copeland

Libby Copeland is an award-winning journalist who writes about culture, science and human behavior.
Her book, The Lost Family published March 3, 2020, looks at the impact of home DNA testing on the American family (sign up below for updates and events). A staff reporter and editor for The Washington Post for over a decade, she now writes from New York for publications including Slate, New York Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, The New Republic, Fast Company, The Atlantic, Glamour and more. As a staffer at The Washington Post, she wrote feature stories from the 2008 presidential trail, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, and the 2005 Michael Jackson molestation trial. Copeland has appeared on MSNBC, CNN and NPR. Read More…

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