Separate teams of researchers from Stanford and the University of Michigan have found convincing evidence locked inside the human genome that much of the world today is populated by descendants of a small band of migrants who left Africa for the Middle East some 100,000 years ago.
The tale told by DNA - the chain of chemicals that carries information in our genes - was uncovered by new machines that can rapidly scan for subtle differences in the genetic makeup of people living in far-flung parts of the globe.
Earlier genetic studies and paleontologic evidence supported the "Out of Africa" theory of global colonization. The latest genome studies are, by far, the largest and most conclusive on that topic to date.