ABOVE: A reproduction of the painting “Celebrating the Birth,” by artist Jan Steen. WIKIMEDIA, WEB GALLERY OF ART
That old joke about the milkman fathering many of a town’s children—it’s far from true, a new study reaffirms.
Researchers analyzed the Y chromosome and genealogy data of 513 pairs of men living in Belgium and the Netherlands. Based on the genealogy data, each pair shared a common paternal ancestor and therefore should have had identical Y chromosomes, unless there was a case of adultery, or what scientists call extra-pair paternity. The study confirmed that the vast majority—99 percent—were indeed genetically related through their paternal lineage, which the authors say buck some common assumptions.
Study coauthor Maarten Larmuseau of KU Leuven was inspired to run the study after looking at a 17th-century painting (pictured above) called “Celebrating the Birth.” In the work, artist Jan Steen shows a celebration centered on the birth ...
