A genome sequence is a long sequence written in a four letter code—3 billion letters in the case of a human genome. How genomic code is deciphered is traditionally left to professional annotators who use information from a number of sources (for instance, knowledge about similar genes in other organisms) to work out where a gene starts, stops and what it does. Even the "gold standard" of professional annotation is an exceptionally slow process.

However, new crowdsourcing technology hopes to provide a faster solution. Don't cringe, scientists, but it's Wikipedia.

Andrew Su, John Huss III and colleagues have established a 'Gene Wiki', an online repository of information on human genes, within Wikipedia. They envision a network of articles, created by a computer program and enhanced by user comments, which will describe the relationship and functions of all human genes.

SAN FRANCISCO and LONDON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ --

Masdar Clean Tech Fund and Virgin Green Fund today announced the buy-out of DuraTherm, Inc., a petroleum and metal recycling business based in Texas City, TX. The transaction, structured as an asset acquisition, was supported by debt from HSH Nordbank AG and completed at an undisclosed valuation.

Using its patented DuraTherm Desorption(R) technology, the Company provides treatment services, either at its facility in Texas City or with its mobile units at a customer's site, for waste streams generated by petroleum and olefin-related industries. The proprietary technology produces "clean" residuals while maximizing the recovery of metal and oil values contained in the wastes.

A new study challenges the long-held belief that diversity of marine species has been increasing continuously since the origin of animals.

An international team carried out this decade-long study and concludes that most of the diversification occurred early on – relatively speaking.

"The general understanding for many decades has been that since the rise of the modern major groups of animals about 545 million years ago (i.e., since the beginning of the Phanerozoic Era), the diversity of animal life in the seas has undergone a roughly four-fold exponential increase," says Dr. Thomas D. Olszewski, a geology and geophysics professor at Texas A&M University. A steep increase in the diversity was believed to have occurred only between 145 million and 60 million years ago.

SALZBURG, Austria, July 7 /PRNewswire/ --

- Salzburg-Based Orderman Becomes Radiant's Global Headquarters for Mobile Solutions

Orderman, the world's leading manufacturer of wireless, customizable handheld ordering and payment devices for the hospitality industry, today announced their sale to Radiant Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: RADS), US market leader in POS solutions for the hospitality industry.

"Orderman's innovative, mobile devices are widely recognized in the European hospitality marketplace," said John Heyman, CEO of Radiant Systems. "This acquisition puts Radiant in an excellent position to further accelerate the adoption of mobile devices in the global hospitality sector and to bring additional innovations to market across all of the industries we serve."

NEW YORK, July 7 /PRNewswire/ --

- Volante SWIFT solution works out-of-the-box for message management in SOAs, applications and on any platform

Powering finance with data management innovations, Volante announced today that its SWIFT solution has received the first gold label in the new category of SWIFTReady Messaging Data Services (MDS).

"Volante successfully passed the tests for the MDS certification, which requires extensive and modular messaging support. We were impressed by the quality and completeness of the Volante product," said Eric Meirlaen, Business Analyst at SWIFT.

Researchers here now have a picture of a key molecule that lets microbes produce carbon dioxide and methane, the two greenhouse gases associated with global warming. The findings relate to organisms called methanogens and cap a 12-year effort into how industrial processes might be improved, explained Michael Chan, professor of biochemistry, and Joseph Krzycki, professor of microbiology, both of Ohio State University.

Methanogenesis is the process by which the gas methane is made, and it takes place everywhere across the globe, from swamps to landfills, releasing the gas that ultimately seeps into the atmosphere.

"This enzyme is the key to the whole process of methanogenesis from acetic acid," Krzycki said. "Without it, this form of methanogenesis wouldn't happen. Since it is so environmentally important worldwide, the impact of understanding this would be enormous."

LONDON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- A survey by Level Four Software, carried out by ICM Research, today reveals that British holidaymakers have become cash-and-dash fans. The ATM is the most popular form of accessing cash abroad, with 30% of British holidaymakers relying on this service when they run out of their initial cash supply. Budgeting is not a British strength it seems, with 69% of holidaymakers running out of cash during their trip abroad.

SCHOONHOVEN, The Netherlands, July 7 /PRNewswire/ --

- A New Way to Make the Most of Self-Made Photos, Videos and Ringtones

EVRY, France, July 7 /PRNewswire/ --

- Yves Champey Takes Over From Bernard Barataud

The board of directors at Genethon nominated a new president to head the laboratory created in 1990 by the AFM (French Muscular Dystrophy Association). Thus Yves Champey succeeds Bernard Barataud, who has decided to hand over the reins after heading the laboratory between 1990 and 1995 and then between 1999 and 2008.

Paying rural landowners in Oregon's Willamette Basin to protect at-risk animals won't necessarily mean that their newly conserved trees and plants will absorb more carbon from the atmosphere and vice versa, a new study has found.

The study, to be published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed hypothetical payments that were given to landowners to voluntarily take their acreage out of production for conservation. Scenarios conserving different types of land were also developed.