Today, two separate events again brought to my conscious the advent of genomics to our everyday lives. The first is a special issue of Genome Research, dedicated to personal genomes. The second is the airing of a discussion regarding direct-to-consumer genetic testing at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC. I remember when I first started peering into genomes, I did not give much thought to how something esoteric at the time would so quickly invade our common parlance. These are exciting times for a genomicist indeed.
