The Vikings at the Azores

The Vikings visited the Azores Islands, they left their house mouses there which are a proof of that

The Azores Islands - they are located in the middle of the Atlantic. 1369 kilometers away from Europe, 2342 kilometers away from Newfoundland in Canada. They are small, stormy islands with subtropical climate.

Viking vessel unearthed in Scandinavia

According to a new study (1) they were visited and settled by Vikings from Norway. Genetic studies found house mouses with ancestry from Norway at two islands of the Azores (1). For the island Madeira (not part of the Azores) genetic studies on house mouses some years ago had confirmed that they were visited by Vikings from Denmark. 

But there a hints on human settlement of tze Azores before the time of the Vikings: 200 years ago there were detected coins from Carthage of the 4th century b.c. at the Azores.

2006 a genetic study in humans found hints at the Azores of viking ancestry. The islanders have the highest rate of homozygotes for a northern european gene that is a protection against HIV-1. These genetic footprints can be found downwards to the isle São Tomé and Príncipe at the western coast of Africa (Human Biology 2006). Some quotes from the new study (1):

“Among the islands of the Azorean archipelago, Santa Maria and Terceira produced the most unexpected results. (…) The mice on Santa Maria are predominantly clade F, which unlike the other highly represented clades in the Azores (clades B, C and D) has not been found in either Portugal or southern Spain, nor in the neighbouring archipelagos of Madeira and the Canaries. Clade F has a geographical range that matches well with the realm of influence of the Norwegian Vikings (coastal Norway, northern and western Scotland, Ireland, Iceland: Jones et al., 2012). Norwegian Vikings were certainly transporting mice of this clade (based on sequencing of Viking Age mouse specimens from Iceland and Greenland: Jones et al., 2012), and were excellent mariners, and crossed enormous water gaps, so it is not inconceivable that they visited the Azores, leaving mice as evidence of that event, as suggested for Danish Vikings and Madeira (Gündüz et al., 2001; Förster et al., 2009). (…)

The first written document with a reference to the peopling of the Azores dates back to 1439, according to which the Portuguese crown ordered “sheep to be released in the seven Azorean islands in preparation for human settlement” (Crosby, 2004).”

The norwegian housemouse were found at the eastern Azores islands Terceira und Santa Maria. And (1):

“Interestingly, based on medieval maps and Scandinavian texts, Kelley (1979) has already speculated that Norwegian Vikings may have found their way to the Azores.”

For that see: (2). So, is this a new argument for the discussions around the Vinland map?

________________________________________________

1. Gabriel SI1, Mathias ML, Searle JB: Of mice and the “Age of Discovery” - The complex history of colonization of the Azorean archipelago by the house mouse (Mus musculus) as revealed by mitochondrial DNA variation. J Evol Biol. 2014 Nov 14. doi: 10.1111/jeb.12550
2. Kelley Jr, J.E. 1979. Non-Mediterranean influences that shaped the Atlantic in the early Portolan charts. Imago Mundi, 31: 18–35
3. Die Geschichte von Erich dem Roten und Leif dem Glücklichen. Die Saga von den Männern die auf Grönland siedeln und Amerika entdecken. Übertragen von Gustav Wenz. Verlag von Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig o.J. [1935] [Isländer-Geschichten. Hrsg. u. übertragen von Gustav Wenz, I. Reihe, 2. Bd.; zw. 1935 und 1937]

Consumer Genetics

There is a good letter in "Nature", 26.8.2010 by Christopher Kanan, discussing consumer genetics:

Consumers have a right to affordable genetic testing

There is no good reason for people to have access to their personal genetic information only through medical experts, as Arthur Beaudet suggests (Nature 466, 816–817; 2010). Such tests provide an incentive for consumers to learn about genetics and to support genetics research, while encouraging them to make reasonably informed decisions about their health.

Consumers have a right to acquire affordable information about their genetic profile. Independent studies could verify the quality of the data gathered, and this could easily be done by product-review organizations such as the US-based Consumers Union.

Regulating the quality of data interpretation would be harder, especially because data-inference models improve over time. Companies should explain that their models for interpreting genetic material are probabilistic and imperfect. They should also reference the studies used to generate these models and allow users to download the uninterpreted data.

Some companies warn consumers that they should not change their lifestyle if they learn they have a higher risk of a disease. But if a test indicates that a person's risk of developing heart disease is above average, they may exercise more and eat better. Is this any worse than changing your behaviour because your father died of heart disease?

Beaudet suggests that ancestry tests may be acceptable with limited regulation, but that using the same genetic material to infer health-related information should have medical approval. Why should one type of genetic test be acceptable and the other not? Consumers may make life-altering decisions based on that information in both cases, but the fear that this information will harm them is speculative.

Because some genetic tests may have to compete with less expensive, direct-to-consumer products, people calling for a ban on such tests should declare any competing financial interests.

Caution is recommended - but basically the information about his own genetic heritage should be free for everyone and should be given without much paternalism.