We've all found gems hidden among junk before - the great album you own but never listened to, the book on your shelf that you never read, or the boot sale item that's worth a fortune. Geneticists are no different. Two years ago, Katherine Pollard and Sofie Salama discovered that one of the most important genes in human evolution has been lying in plain sight, hidden within a pile of genetic clutter.
Humans and our closest cousins, chimpanzees, evolved from a common ancestor, and we famously share anywhere from 96-99% of our DNA. This similarity suggests an obvious question: what are the key genetic differences that separate us from chimps? The search for these differences is now possible because the entire human and chimp genomes have been sequenced. The genomes represent each species' entire DNA repertoire and by comparing them, Pollard and Salama sought to hunt down the genetic innovations ...
