NIH’s huge All of Us genes and health study releases first 100,000 genomes | Science

All of Us, an ambitious health and genetics study aiming to enroll 1 million volunteers who represent the United States’ diversity, has reached a major milestone: the first release of nearly 100,000 whole genomes. The DNA sequences are tied to anonymized health records from the participants, allowing the study of how gene variants influence health. … Read more

We Now Have The Largest Ever Human ‘Family Tree’, With 231 Million Ancestral Lineages

In June 2000, two rival groups of researchers shook hands in the shared success of a milestone in biology – the delivery of a rough draft of the human genome. What started with an incomplete map of our chromosomes has since bloomed into a vast trove of individualized sequences from all corners of the globe, … Read more

Huge Project Is Now Underway to Sequence The Genome of Every Complex Species on Earth

The Earth Biogenome Project, a global consortium that aims to sequence the genomes of all complex life on earth (some 1.8 million described species) in ten years, is ramping up.   The project’s origins, aims and progress are detailed in two multi-authored papers published today. Once complete, it will forever change the way biological research … Read more

A Weird Paper Tests The Limits of Science by Claiming Octopuses Came From Space

A summary of decades of research on a rather ‘out-there’ idea involving viruses from space raises questions on just how scientific we can be when it comes to speculating on the history of life on Earth.   It’s easy to throw around words like crackpot, rogue, and maverick in describing the scientific fringe, but then … Read more

Western honeybees: World’s most common bee originated 7 million years ago in Asia

A genetic analysis suggests the world’s most common species of honeybee, the western honeybee, first appeared in western Asia about 7 million years ago and then spread into Africa and Europe Life 3 December 2021 By Carissa Wong Honey bee workers (Apis mellifera) Kim Taylor / naturepl.com Genomic analysis has revealed that the western honeybee … Read more