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Take it to the Crowd

Apr 20, 2012

Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of 23andMe, spoke at Harvard University about crowdsourcing science, reports The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog. Wojcicki said that relying on the crowd can get researchers answers more quickly. For example, she described 23andMe researchers sending out a survey on family history of cancer to customers in their database with mutations linked to cancer. From that, Wojcicki said the company received more than 12,000 responses in 36 hours. "Being able to do research in a real-time way is the way research needs to be done in the future," she said.

Breaking News
The Scan

Pig Organ Transplants Considered

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration may soon allow clinical trials that involve transplanting pig organs into humans.

'Poo-Bank' Proposal

Harvard Medical School researchers suggest people should bank stool samples when they are young to transplant when they later develop age-related diseases.

Spurred to Develop Again

New Scientist reports that researchers may have uncovered why about 60 percent of in vitro fertilization embryos stop developing.

Science Papers Examine Breast Milk Cell Populations, Cerebral Cortex Cellular Diversity, Micronesia Population History

In Science this week: unique cell populations found within breast milk, 100 transcriptionally distinct cell populations uncovered in the cerebral cortex, and more.