A group of the world's leading sequencing centers have announced plans to sequence 1000 human genomes. The cost of the first human genome project was about $3 billion; by comparison, the next 1000 will be a steal at possibly only $50 million dollars (and that's total cost, not per genome). But that's still a lot of money - why are we investing so much in sequencing genomes? It may be a lot up front, but the benefits, in terms of both economics and medical research, easily outweigh the cost of such a large project. By pooling sequencing resources and making large amounts of genome sequence data available up front, we can avoid inefficient and redundant sequencing efforts by groups of independent research groups trying discover gene variants involved in disease. In fact, it would probably be worthwhile to sequence 10,000 human genomes. With 1000 genomes, we're at least making a good start.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, January 29 /PRNewswire/ --

Concentric Medical, Inc. announced today that it has obtained regulatory clearance for its Merci(R) L4 and Merci L6 Retrievers in the European Union. These new Retrievers, released in the United States in 2007, join the existing Merci Retrievers(R) already on the market in Europe, and provide physicians with additional choices in their efforts to restore blood flow in ischemic stroke patients.

Prairie voles, aka Microtus ochrogaster, are common native rodents in the central U.S. and southern Canada. Because they mate for life and are relatively easy to study, the mouse-like creatures have been the subject of much research by scientists probing questions of monogamy and sexual faithfulness among mammals.

Steve Phelps, an assistant professor of zoology and one of the paper’s three authors, said many male voles pick a female partner and settle in a territory — often for life. A minority, however, shirks steady partners and home bases, instead ranging across other males’ turf and mating with other males’ females.

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, January 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- Latest Version Offers Most Complete Submission Linking Capabilities

Thomson Scientific, part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) and leading provider of information solutions to the worldwide research and business communities, today announced the availability of InSight Publisher(R) 3.6. The latest version of InSight Publisher adds intuitive hyperlinking and cross-reference management to its enhanced functionality set. Since its release in 2006, InSight Publisher has been enabling pharmaceutical companies to create, manage and publish regulatory submissions in both paper and electronic format using a single software application.

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas, January 28 /PRNewswire/ --

SYSTEN, LLC, a Web and software-solutions company, announces the release of a newly re-architected Internet file system -- TrueShare; it makes remote file access, file storage, and file sharing easier and more effective than ever.

-- (PHOTO 72dpi: Send2Press.com/mediaboom/08-0111-TrueShare_72dpi.jpg) -- (Photo Caption: TrueShare Screen Shot.)

Originally launched in 2006, SYSTEN has completely re-architected the web-based software to establish a state-of-the-art technology platform on which rapid development of robust end-user enhancements and integration services can occur.

A more attractive dollar, better undergraduate science education in other countries and more common-sense application and approval rates for U.S. student visas has resulted in a 16 percent enrollment of first-time, full-time foreign graduate students on temporary visas studying science and engineering (S&E).

The increases in the past two years reflect a reversal of the declines in enrollments of new foreign S&E graduate students experienced after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

"The numbers indicate a rebound of first-time, full-time foreign S&E enrollment in U.S. graduate schools, which declined 19 percent between 2001 and 2004 after 9/11," said Project Officer Julia Oliver, of the National Science Foundation (NSF), which cosponsored the study with the National Institutes of Health.

The authors of a new book, "Natural Security: A Darwinian Approach to a Dangerous World", say lessons learned from Mother Nature help protect us from terror threats -- if governments are willing to think outside the box.

“Biological organisms have figured out millions of ways, over three and a half billion years of evolution, to keep themselves safe from a vast array of threats,” said Raphael Sagarin, a Duke University ecologist who co-edited the book with Terence Taylor, an international security expert.

“Arms races among invertebrates, intelligence gathering by the immune system and alarm calls by marmots are just a few of nature’s successful security strategies that have been tested and modified over time in response to changing threats and situations,” Sagarin said. “In our book, we look at these strategies and ask how we could apply them to our own safety.”

A unique transmissible and rapidly spreading cancer threatens the very existence of Tasmanian devils. To combat this particularly aggressive disease, a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory research team, in collaboration with 454 Lifesciences, is committing resources to sequence parts of the devil’s genome in an effort to increase the odds of saving them from extinction.

In 1996 scientists first discovered the facial tumors on Tasmanian devils. Subsequent research revealed that the cancer is transmitted from one devil to another when tumor cells are transplanted through fighting, biting, and other physical contact.

Once afflicted with the cancer, aggressive tumors begin to appear on the face and neck of the devils, restricting their ability to eat. Within approximately three months, the devils succumb to the disease and often die of starvation. The disease has decimated the devil population by nearly 90 percent in certain geographical areas of Tasmania, and officials project that within twenty years the entire species could become extinct.

NEW YORK, January 28 /PRNewswire/ --

QTRAX (www.QTRAX.com), the world's first free and legal peer-to-peer music service announced that at today's V.2 Beta launch, its ground-breaking service had approximately 61,000 unique users per hour (between 7am and 1pm EST). This translates to approximately 1,464,000 unique users per day. QTRAX believes that a significant percentage of users were unable to access the site due to this massive demand and has now dramatically increased its download capacity.

NEW YORK, January 28 /PRNewswire/ --

Government, business, civic and public health leaders attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland announced the creation of aids2031, a global initiative dedicated to taking a critical look at what we need to do now in order to change the face of AIDS by 2031. The year 2031 will mark 50 years since AIDS was first reported.

According to Stefano Bertozzi, chairperson of the aids2031 steering committee and director of health economics and evaluation for the National Institute of Public Health in Cuernavaca, Mexico, the focus of aids2031 is greatly needed.