2024-04-29
1 小时 2 分钟Five years ago, we published an episode about the boom in home DNA testing kits, focusing on the high-flying firm 23andMe and its C.E.O. Anne Wojcicki. Their flight has been extremely bumpy since then. This update includes an additional interview with the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been investigating the firm’s collapse.
Hey, there, it's Steven Dubner.
In 2019, we published an episode about the boom in home DNA testing.
The key information came from an interview we did with Ann Wojcicki, the founder and CEO of 23 andme.
A couple years after we published that piece, 23 andme went public after merging with what's called a SPAC or a special purpose acquisition company.
It was backed by Richard Branson.
This looked to be a brilliant move.
Company was valued at around $6 billion.
It entered the stratosphere because we all decided to take these tasks, and it got very popular.
That is Rolf Winkler.
He is a Wall Street Journal reporter who covers health technology and what is 23 andme worth now?
Right now, the valuation is zero.
So today, on a bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio, we wanted to replay that original conversation with Ann Wojcicki with updated facts and figures.
And after that, well, speak with Ralph Winkler to hear about all the things that went wrong with 23 andme and what might still go right.
Thanks for listening.
In 2018, police in Sacramento, California, arrested a man who had been eluding them for decades.
The Golden State killer, as he'd been known, was responsible for more than a dozen murders and 50 rapes.
This morning, new details of the rigorous investigation that detectives say brought down the Golden State killer more than 40 years after his alleged killing spree began, detectives.
Had uploaded a DNA sample from the suspect to an open source website called GEDmatch.
The site provides, in its words, DNA and genealogical analysis tools for amateur and professional researchers and genealogists.
We've just learned from multiple law enforcement sources that investigators use genealogy websites to help link D'Angelo to what was previously the unknown mystery DNA of the attacker.