Bryan Sykes obituary
by Georgina Ferry from Science | The Guardian on (#5BTR4)
Human geneticist who proposed that every European could trace their ancestry to one of seven women living thousands of years ago
The human geneticist Bryan Sykes, who has died aged 73, pushed forward the analysis of inherited conditions such as brittle bone disease and double-jointedness, and was one of the first to extract DNA from ancient bone.
The same Bryan Sykes, holder of a personal chair at Oxford University, analysed hair supposedly taken from mythical hominids such as the Bigfoot and Yeti, and announced the results in a three-part television series. His delight in science and enthusiasm for communicating it to popular audiences were both aspects of an expansive personality that alternately inspired and exasperated his colleagues.
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