On human nature; The sequence of the human genome.(Science and Technology)(Rival versions of the human genome have been published at last. Despite arguments between the teams that produced them, the results are a huge step towards a proper understanding of how humans work)

Economist (US), The, February, 2001

THE number of the beast may be 666, but the number of the person is 26,588. At least, it is according to Celera Genomics, which reckons that that is the number of genes it has found in the human genome. According to the Human Genome Project consortium, it is about 31,000. Both figures are subject to the usual caveats about margins of error. But one thing is clear from this week's publication of the papers containing the first drafts of the human genome: it takes far fewer genes to make a person than people once thought.

The publication of the research may puzzle those who thought that the race to the human genome was over last June. Back then, after President Clinton had knocked their heads together, the competitors made a joint, televised announcement that...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.