In 2369 Picard completed his mentor Richard Galen's research, finding a message from an ancient species that had seeded many worlds with life.
Professor Richard Galen, Picard's former archaeology teacher, had found that DNA fragments scattered among species across the galaxy formed parts of a single computer program. He was killed in 2369 before he could finish, and Picard took up his work. Cardassian, Klingon and Romulan teams soon joined the race, each fearing the program might be a weapon.
The groups were forced to cooperate to complete it. The program played a recorded message from an ancient humanoid species that had seeded many planets with its genetic material, explaining why so many species shared a similar humanoid form.