No fewer than 16 million men can trace their ancestry back to a single individual, the great warrior, Genghis Khan.
An essay describing how this is known and about research efforts to trace the origins of man has won the top award in a science writing competition.
Ms Laoise Moore claimed first prize in the biochemistry essay competition organised by The Irish Times and the Royal Irish Academy. The Trinity College Dublin genetics student received her prize yesterday in Dublin at a ceremony at the academy. Second prize went to Ms Melanie Späth, also from Trinity College's Department of Genetics.
Ms Moore prepared an exceptional report that describes how male lineage can be traced by studying mutations in the male Y-chromosome, a part of the genetic code passed down from father to son.
These studies show that the entire population of the world comes from one set of forebears originating in sub-Saharan Africa more than 50,000 years ago. Y-chromosome analysis has also revealed that Genghis Khan, who established the largest land empire in history, now has about 16 million direct descendants in Asia.
Ms Späth's essay was a description of efforts to find the causes of and a cure for Retinitis Pigmentosa, a disease that causes progressive loss of vision and eventual blindness.
Ms Moore's full essay will be published on Thursday in the Science Today page.