New Scientist investigated the extent to which "abandoned DNA", which we all continually leave behind on objects such as discarded coffee cups, licked envelopes and so on, can be picked up and analyzed without our knowledge by ordinary citizens with no specialist training, using readily available commercial services and software tools.
Specifically, the reporters showed that this could result in the "theft" of deeply personal health-related information such as your future risk of suffering from Alzheimer's disease or blindness. Using the services of genome analysis companies, one of us performed a simulated "genome hack" on the other to highlight this risk to our privacy. New Scientist informed companies of additional steps they could take to avoid doing business with genome hackers, and discussed legislative changes to outlaw the practice.
Read "How My Genome was hacked"
See the contest questionnaire in which the reporter writes about how this story was written.