ABSTRACT
Modern science views race in terms of stable differences among different populations of individuals whose ancestors evolved under different environmental conditions. To prove that race exists beyond a reasonable doubt, geneticists would have to collect DNA data from a large number of individuals from around the world. The selection-neutral genetic markers used in the History and Geography of Human Genes study are passed down across the generations relatively unaltered except for drift and minor mutations, and are thus useful for assessing group genealogies based on genetic distance. Genetic distance measures are quantifications of the relative isolation of breeding populations from one another— the greater the genetic distance, the greater the isolation. H. Tang and his colleagues concluded that "The correspondence between genetic cluster and self-identified race/ethnicity major self-identified race/ethnicity and genetic cluster are effectively synonymous".
