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Take Care of the Tree of Life

Jan 11, 2010

News sources report the UN's launch of the International Year of Biodiversity. The agency warns "that the ongoing loss of species around the world is affecting human well-being," according to BBC News. "Eight years ago, governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but the pledge will not be met." The rate of species loss is "estimated to be as high as 1,000 times the natural rate as a result of human activities," according to this article in the Guardian.

Jonathan Eisen points out this video from Yale's Peabody Museum, which discusses biodiversity and the tree of life:

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The Scan

Study Tracks Responses in Patients Pursuing Polygenic Risk Score Profiling

Using interviews, researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics qualitatively assess individuals' motivations for, and experiences with, direct-to-consumer polygenic risk score testing.

EHR Quality Improvement Study Detects Demographic-Related Deficiencies in Cancer Family History Data

In a retrospective analysis in JAMA Network Open, researchers find that sex, ethnicity, language, and other features coincide with the quality of cancer family history information in a patient's record.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Linked to Gut Microbiome Community Structure Gradient in Meta-Analysis

Bringing together data from prior studies, researchers in Genome Biology track down microbial taxa and a population structure gradient with ties to ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.

Ancient Greek Army Ancestry Highlights Mercenary Role in Historical Migrations

By profiling genomic patterns in 5th century samples from in and around Himera, researchers saw diverse ancestry in Greek army representatives in the region, as they report in PNAS.