23andMe launched a new research effort, called Roots into the Future, that the company says will focus on the African-American community. "Our goal is to enroll 10,000 participants who self-identify as African American, Black, or African in order to rapidly accelerate genetic research in the African American community," 23andMe says at its Spitoon blog. This project, the post adds, was prompted by a recent article in Wired that noted that 96 percent of genomic study participants are of European ancestry. "Overall this seems like a commendable initiative," writes Daniel MacArthur at Genetic Future. "It seems likely that — assuming the company achieves its recruitment goals — they will be able to contribute substantially to our understanding of disease genetics in a politically and medically important non-European population."