Chimp and human DNA 98%...

Hang on a minute. 

The first time I saw that figure, I wondered why chimps didn’t have trains and boats and planes. Well –

Lies, Damned lies,..

"Junk DNA" has a purpose, something most of us probably guessed was true from first principles, though we couldn't predict what it would be. The link tells of some progress they're making on figuring out what its roles are.

But one sentence jumped out at me:

“If you look at the chimpanzee genome and the human genome, the protein coding regions are, like, 98 percent, 99 percent identical,” she says. “But the junk DNA part is very, very different.”

You've heard that 98% stat over and over again, haven't you? But unless you dig into the details, you never learn that said "98%" covers only 1.5% of the DNA. I'd never dug into it before myself. I need to be more suspicious--I figured it was just a matter of complexity. Nope, hubris: "If we don't understand it, it doesn't matter."

https://idontknowbut.blogspot.com/2021/09/lies-damned-lies.html

Link at Assistant Village Idiot.