The blood remembers, but it does not speak in names. In this sitting I tell you plainly what a test can give you and what it cannot. It can point toward the regions and peoples your ancestors came from, connect you to living cousins, and trace the deep paternal and maternal lines back across the water. What it cannot do is hand you an ancestor's name, or a certificate of kingship, or a nation you may claim by percentage alone. An estimate is not a person. I'll show you how to let the science guide your search without letting it flatter you — how it points toward home without naming the door.

Resources for this episode:

• AncestryDNA — ancestry.com — the largest matching database, strongest for finding cousins.
• 23andMe ...