"In just the last few years an explosion of discoveries - driven by information from the human genome - has empowered researchers to address many long-standing questions about the deep human past. Nicholas Wade has drawn on the new findings to present the first portrait of a special and hitherto mysterious group of human ancestors - the ancestral human population that lived in Africa 50,000 years ago and from whom everyone in the world today is descended."...

An exploration into genomics and the sequencing of the human genome details how this science will help discover the genetic causes of disease, allow for individualized diagnostics, and open the door for innovative treatments.