Archaeologica.org

The science of life is undergoing changes so jolting that even its top researchers are feeling something akin to shell-shock. Just four years after scientists finished mapping the human genome - the full sequence of 3 billion DNA "letters" folded within every cell - they find themselves confronted by a biological jungle deeper, denser, and more difficult to penetrate than anyone imagined.

A slew of recent but unrelated studies of everything from human disease to the workings of yeast suggest that mysterious swaths of molecules - long dismissed as "junk DNA" - may be more important to health and evolution than genes themselves.

Meanwhile, a tricky substance called RNA - for decades viewed as the lowly "messenger boy " for genes and proteins - turns out to be a big league player in cell function. It may even represent the cell's command and control system, according to its more vigorous proponents.

In any event, lots of basic biological beliefs are going out the window these days as new discoveries come so rapid-fire that the effect is almost more disorienting than illuminating.

The discoveries have one common theme: Cellular processes long assumed to be "genetic" appear quite often to be the result of highly complex interactions occurring in regions of DNA void of genes. This is roughly akin to Wall Street waking to the realization that money doesn't make the world go 'round, after all.

Meanwhile, a tricky substance called RNA - for decades viewed as the lowly "messenger boy " for genes and proteins

Similarly, proponents of extraterrestrial origin theories suggest that junk DNA may be lying dormant, waiting for a signal from the creators of the human race.

waiting for a signal from the creators of the human race.

Similarly, proponents of extraterrestrial origin theories suggest that junk DNA may be lying dormant, waiting for a signal from the creators of the human race.