FACIAL features are a poor guide to a Brazilian鈥檚 ancestry, according to a study that compared people鈥檚 genes with their appearance.
S茅rgio Pena at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in south-eastern Brazil and his team characterised nearly 400 people as 鈥渨hite鈥�, 鈥渂lack鈥� or 鈥渋ntermediate鈥� based on their facial features and skin colour, then used 10 genetic markers to trace their genetic ancestry.
While judgements based on appearance are known to distinguish between Europeans and Africans quite accurately, the results for Brazilians were much hazier 鈥� even for those who were extremely dark or pale. 鈥淭hey are tremendously overlapping,鈥� says Pena (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0126614100).
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