qpAdm5 min
qpWave explained: the rank test, and what it can and cannot count
qpWave asks how many ancestry components populations need relative to a right set. The rank test, cladality checks, and why the count is not a tally of migrations.
Research journal, page 4
Blog
Methodology deep-dives, population spotlights, and engineering notes from the Ancestrify team, qpAdm modelling, ancient DNA panels, and how genetic ancestry analysis really works.
Field notes, page 4
24 stories
qpAdm6 minqpAdm rotation explained: fair comparison, and why pre-study odds decide its error rate
Rotation makes qpAdm comparisons fair, not winners true. What the audits found on admixture graphs and landscapes, and why pre-study odds set the error rate.
qpAdm8 minDistal vs proximal qpAdm: what temporal order protects against, and what it cannot
On simulated admixture graphs, temporal order was the biggest lever on qpAdm false discoveries. On stepping-stone landscapes it was not enough. What each result means.
qpAdm4 minHow many SNPs does qpAdm need? Coverage, overlap and the allsnps lever
The number that governs a qpAdm model is never your file's marker count — it is the intersection with the ancient panel, per statistic. The published coverage numbers, the allsnps table, and what a consumer chip can honestly support.
qpAdm12 minqpAdm vs ADMIXTURE and admixture calculators: what each measures, and when qpAdm is worth it
ADMIXTURE and admixture calculators describe structure and always return percentages; qpAdm tests an explicit model and can reject it. What each estimates, why papers run both, and when qpAdm is worth paying for.
qpAdm5 minHow qpAdm changed ancient DNA: from one 2015 paper to the field's workhorse
qpAdm first appeared in the supplement of the 2015 steppe-migration paper and became the method behind a decade of ancestry headlines. Where it came from, what it settled, and how a decade of stress-testing sharpened its limits.
Global254 minWhat is a good G25 fit distance? The number everyone reads wrong
The fit distance measures how far a mixture still sits from your coordinate — not whether the model is right. Calibrated bands for reading one, why lower stops being better, and the checks that actually validate a model.
Global253 minG25 scaled vs unscaled coordinates: which to use, how to tell them apart
Every Global25 row exists in two forms, and mixing them is the hobby's most common silent error. What scaling does mathematically, which form each tool expects, and the tell-tale signs of a mixed comparison.
Global254 minG25 source selection: how good models overfit and honest panels are built
Adding sources always lowers a G25 fit distance and routinely worsens the model — a worked demonstration where the fit improved from 0.0110 to 0.0068 while the story collapsed. The rules that keep a panel honest.
Global253 minHow accurate is G25? What the coordinate can and cannot resolve
Global25 is a projection, not a test — so 'accuracy' has layers: the coordinate's own fidelity, the references it is compared against, and the models built on top. An honest audit of all three.
Global253 minnMonte explained: the R script behind every G25 admixture fit
Ger Huijbregts's nMonte turned Global25 rows into ancestry percentages and founded a whole tool tradition. How the Monte-Carlo search works, what nMonte3 changed, what the fit distance is, and the discipline the script never enforces.
Global253 minHow to read a G25 PCA plot without fooling yourself
What a Global25 PCA projection shows, what the axes are and are not, why plot distance lies, the difference between projecting onto a fixed view and fitting your own — and the honest uses of both.
Global253 minG25 vs your 23andMe ethnicity estimate: why the numbers disagree
A Global25 model and a testing company's ethnicity estimate answer different questions with different references and different time depths. What each is actually computing, and which to trust for which claim.
Global259 minFree G25 tools in 2026: the complete toolbox for your Global25 coordinates
Everything you can do with a Global25 row without paying anyone: distance rankings, admixture fits, PCA plots, averaging, authenticity checks — Vahaduo, nMonte and the Ancestrify Lab, honestly compared.
Global253 minYour closest populations by G25 distance: what the ranking means
What a Global25 distance ranking actually measures, why era choice changes everything, how close is 'close', and the four misreadings that turn a good tool into a wrong conclusion.
Global253 minEurogenes Global25: how one blogger's PCA became the hobby's standard coordinate
From the Eurogenes blog's admixture calculators through Global 10 to the 2018 launch of Global25 — why a 25-dimension PCA became the ancestry community's common currency, and what changed around it since.
Admixture5 minWhat is an admixture calculator? How ancestry percentages are actually computed
Every admixture calculator — GEDmatch's classics, Global25 fits, testing-company estimates — is an optimiser that cannot say no. How the three families work, what the percentages mean, and the questions a calculator can and cannot answer.
Admixture4 minGEDmatch admixture calculators explained: Eurogenes, Dodecad, HarappaWorld, MDLP, puntDNAL
Which GEDmatch admixture project to run for your background, what each calculator's components mean, why the projects disagree with each other, and what has aged since 2012–2016.
Admixture4 minThe best DNA admixture calculator in 2026, by question and by background
There is no single best admixture calculator — there is a best one per question. An honest decision guide across GEDmatch's classics, Global25 tools and formal methods, from someone who builds one of them.
Admixture4 minHow accurate are admixture calculators? An honest audit
Accuracy has three different meanings for an ancestry calculator, and the tools do well on exactly one of them. Where percentages are trustworthy, where they are noise, and how to tell which regime you are in.
Admixture3 minWhy admixture calculators disagree — and which number to believe
The same genome scores 44% North European in one calculator and 51% in another. Component anchoring, reference panels, the calculator effect and K explain the spread — and none of the numbers is 'the real one'.
Admixture3 minGEDmatch Oracle explained: what the distances mean and how to read Oracle-4
Oracle ranks reference populations by how closely their calculator percentages match yours — not by shared DNA. How the distance is computed, what single and mixed modes tell you, and the misreadings to avoid.
Admixture4 minEurogenes K13 explained: what your results actually mean
The thirteen K13 components, what North Atlantic, East Med and West Asian are anchored to, who the calculator works best for, how to read the Oracle — and the caveats that come with a 2012-era tool.
Admixture3 minEurogenes K36 explained: fine-scale components and why the maps mislead
What the 36-component Eurogenes calculator can genuinely show, why its regional labels invite over-reading, what a K36 heat map is actually plotting, and when a distance ranking answers the question better.
