Scientists recently released a new accounting of the human genome. The research effort included information from people from around the world and could help ongoing efforts to identify genetic causes of diseases. A genome is an organism's genetic map and contains the information needed for development and growth. Each person's genome is individual, differing only from all others by about 0.4 percent on average. Scientists have made big advances in understanding the human genome in the past twenty years. In 2003, researchers announced the first genome sequence that accounted for over 90 percent of the complete human genome. It included information from about 20 people, but 70 percent of the blood donated for the research came from one individual of mixed European and African ancestry. The first complete human genome, based on one European person, was published last year.