One really cool project I’d like to participate in if i had a hundred extra bucks lying around is the national geographic genographic project.
basically, the project shows you your deep ancestry traced straight back through your mother’s lineage (your mitochondrial dna) or your father’s (your y chromosome). just one cheek swap and a postage stamp is all you need to reveal your genetic origins.
this is seriously cool stuff, and you help to build a genetic database for research while you participate. talk about science and public interaction on the cutting edge.