Roma Record: Paths of the Gypsy population’s diasporas

The Gypsies’ meandering past has left the group with little history. A new study shows that genetics can trace their centuries-old paths. The findings could be a boon not only for historians but also for researchers studying human genetics and disease.

The Gypsies, or Roma, are what scientists call a founder population, a group started by a small number of isolated individuals who maintained genetic idiosyncrasies over multiple generations (SN: 7/22/00, p.