This report from the 1000 Genomes Project describes the genomes of 1,092 individuals from 14 human populations, providing a resource for common and low-frequency variant analysis in individuals from diverse populations; hundreds of rare non-coding variants at conserved sites, such as motif-disrupting changes in transcription-factor-binding sites, can be found in each individual.

In models of early life it has been suggested that life and evolution would be more easily achieved if RNA molecules could interact, rather than function independently; here an in vitro system is designed with several RNA fragments that can assemble into a ribozyme, showing that cooperative networks formed by these fragments outcompete self-catalytic RNA fragments.

From spectra and images of Vesta, it is suggested that the dark patches on Vesta are formed of infalling hydrated carbonaceous material and the bright patches are uncontaminated Vesta soil.