Quite a few years ago I had DNA testing through Ancestry. Over the years there have been reanalyses of results. I believe it has become more accurate, and the area of my Europe my ancestors are from matches family history and lore. Both sides of my family come from northern Germany and the Netherlands. We are North Sea/Baltic Sea people. There is absolutely no evidence that my father’s family is French. That is a long held family myth. They are Dutch and Ostfriesian. My mother’s people come from the area around Hamburg and Bremen, and Schwerin, a town in northern Mecklenburg.

Every so often I get new results from Ancestry regarding DNA linked traits that I might possess. I don’t know how much I believe in the accuracy of the results, nor do I know how the results were derived, but some are spot on. I just don’t know how DNA influences them. For example, just last week I learned I had a new trait, that of not liking scary movies. Well, I really dislike scary movies. My mom didn’t like them either.

Some of the traits I allegedly possess that are consistent with my experiences are being likely to drink caffeine beverages, having good eye-hand coordination, being unable to smell asparagus metabolites, being unlikely to enjoy watching sports, enjoying cilantro, being likely to get cavities, having high pain tolerance, and being able to wiggle my ears.

According to my Ancestry DNA analysis I am unlikely to go grey early and unlikely to have pets. Well, neither of those are accurate for me. I started going grey in my 30’s, and I have had pets all my life.

I take the trait reports with a grain of salt. I think we have more free will regarding how we function than our DNA dictates. Nature vs nurture is hard to discern. I am often sarcastically thanked by our children for giving them my gene for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I think I would rather say it was in the DNA, and not how I raised them .

What traits do you possess that you think are inherited? What did your upbringing contribute? Can you wiggle your ears?