There’s now just 4 days to go until the big race where BioMed Central takes on Nature Publishing Group. This Tuesday I will join BioMed Central’s MD, Matt Cockerill, along with 20 other colleagues in a run across London. I’ve stepped up my training regime and have been exercising my butt off. We’ve almost raised £1000 for Computer Aid International but we still need your help! If you’d like to sponsor me and the rest of the BioMed Central team, you can make donations here. I promise to run like the wind. Stay tuned for photos of me going the distance.
I’m turtley excited to learn that the Sparky Awards are back. The awards recognize students, educators and librarians 
who promote the universal benefits of sharing ideas. This year there’s a video contest to showcase students’ call for open access. The winning entry could receive an iPad!
Ah, to be sure! The first entire genome of an Irish individual has been sequenced. The research, carried out by a team from the University College Dublin and published in Genome Biology, provides an insight into the evolutionary history of this distinct lineage.
In other science news, research published in BMC Biology this week revealed the dangerous sex lives of bed bugs. Who knew?! Now, male bedbugs are known to be very unfussy when it comes to mating, mounting any well-fed bug they can see – regardless of age or gender. But a research team from Lund University has discovered how immature bedbug nymphs, who would be harmed by the traumatic insemination technique practiced by the males, release alarm pheromones to deter this unwanted attention.
