Yep, it is true and I am not being a meglamanic either, although I am happy to give that a try, it sounds so much fun.

It sounds impressive but, sadly for me, you will also share in the honour. Well you will if you are a man, if you are a woman you will have to content yourself with being mother of the world. In less that 2,000 years you are statistically likely to be an ancestor of every human being alive at that time.

Working back the other way it is likely that a common ancestor to everyone alive today lived less than 3,000 years ago.

Amazing bit of stats that, it is the work of Joseph T. Chang, professor in the Department of Statistics at Yale University. You can read more about it here.