Junk DNA may not be so useless after all. Scientists coined the term to describe the genetic wasteland within the human genome that consists of long stretches of DNA for which there was no known ...

One person's junk is another's treasure. An international team of scientists have found that strings of "junk" DNA that were written off as having no useful function are actually pretty important ...

Some 8 to 10 percent of our DNA is actually leftover from ancient viruses that co-evolved with animal DNA for hundreds of a millions of years. While scientists have long thought this DNA was “junk,” ...

A study conducted by researchers from Japan, China, Canada, and the U.S. found that DNA once considered "junk" makes up nearly half of the human genome. This "junk" DNA comes from transposable ...

Only around two percent of the human genome codes for proteins, and while those proteins carry out many important functions of the cell, the rest of the genome cannot be ignored. However, for decades ...

Imagine the human genome as a string stretching out for the length of a football field, with all the genes that encode proteins clustered at the end near your feet. Take two big steps forward; all the ...

A new study reveals how transposable elements (TEs) expanded gene regulation during brain evolution, shaping modern neural development networks.

You’re far from a perfect product. The code that makes us is at least 75 per cent rubbish, according to a study that suggests most of our DNA really is junk after all. After 20 years of biologists ...

So-called junk DNA was given that unfortunate nickname because its function was so mysterious. These vast regions of the genome do not code for protein and are made up of highly repetitive sequences.

Scientists at Sydney’s Centenary Institute report that the 97% of human DNA long referred to as junk can actually play a significant role in controlling cell development. Based in the institute’s gene ...