Important new genetic discovery re "Junk DNA" - It's not junk.

[astro]

Genetic Code of Mouse Published
Comparison With Human Genome Indicates ‘Junk DNA’ May Be Vital

The huge stretches of genetic material dismissed in biology classrooms for generations as “junk DNA” actually contain instructions essential for the growth and survival of people and other organisms, and may hold keys to understanding complex diseases such as cancer, strokes and heart attacks, researchers reported yesterday.

That is the most striking finding to emerge from the first comprehensive comparison between the complete set of genetic instructions, or genome, of human beings and that of laboratory mice, due for publication in today’s issue of the journal Nature. The new results suggest that the genomes of both organisms contain at least twice as much critically important genetic material as previously believed, a finding that promises to upend decades of scientific dogma and rewrite the rule book for how nature builds complex creatures.

[hawthorne]

Interesting. Although Richard Dawkin’s theory (that the junk DNA was off on a frolic of its own) was really cool.