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LiveScience
LiveScience
Lise Barnéoud

'It doesn't lie. So who are you?': What happens when DNA tests show a woman is not the mother of the child she gave birth to?

Ultrasound.

DNA is often considered the ultimate indicator of our identity — a foolproof way to determine our origins and how we connect to our parents and previous generations of our family. But in this excerpt from "Hidden Guests: Migrating Cells and How the New Science of Microchimerism Is Redefining Human Identity" (Greystone Books, 2025), author and science journalist Lise Barnéoud explores an unusual case that exposes the limitations of DNA testing, when a maternity test suggested a woman was not the mother of the children she gave birth to.

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