Well, the major news outlets seem to have bought into the claims that a) most people thought that all non-coding DNA is non-functional, and b) we now have evidence that most of it is functional. (Neither is true, by the way).
- New York Times (USA) — Bits of Mystery DNA, Far From ‘Junk,’ Play Crucial Role
- Los Angeles Times (USA) — ENCODE project sheds light on human DNA and disease
- Washington Post (USA) — ‘Junk DNA’ concept debunked by new analysis of human genome
- Wall Street Journal (USA) — Junk DNA’ Debunked
- USA Today — Researchers: ‘Junk’ DNA plays major role in disease
- NPR (USA) – Scientists Unveil ‘Google Maps’ For Human Genome
- CNN (USA) — DNA project interprets ‘book of life’
- Scientific American (USA) – Hidden Treasures in “Junk” DNA
- MSNBC (USA) — New DNA project shows us living beyond our genes
- The Guardian (UK) — Breakthrough study overturns theory of ‘junk DNA’ in genome
- The Independent (UK) — Scientists debunk ‘junk DNA’ theory to reveal vast majority of human genes perform a vital function
- The Telegraph (UK) – Worldwide army of scientists cracks the ‘junk DNA’ code
- The Economist (UK) – The new world of DNA
- New Scientist (UK) – Global project reveals just how active our ‘junk’ DNA is
- BBC (UK) — Detailed map of genome function
- The Globe and Mail (Canada) — Worldwide group of scientists solve ‘junk DNA’ mystery
- CBC (Canada) — ‘Junk DNA’ has a purpose, new map of human genome reveals
- National Post (Canada) — Massive new DNA encyclopedia reveals surprisingly active ‘jungle’ of genetic code
- Toronto Star (Canada) — Massive DNA project shows human genome far from being just junk
- ABC (Australia) — ENCODE reveals junk DNA not junk after all
- The Scientist — Getting to know the genome
- Wired – New DNA Encyclopedia Attempts to Map Function of Entire Human Genome
- TIME – Junk DNA — Not So Useless After All
- TIME — Junk no more
- Newsweek – The inner life of cells
- Businessweek — DNA’s ‘Junk’ Now Seen as Lever Controlling Future Health
- Reuters – “Occupy” comes to DNA: A genome for the 99 percent
- Associated Press – Far from being mostly junk, human DNA is ‘a jungle’ of complex activity, huge project shows
- Science — Human Genome Is Much More Than Just Genes
- Science — ENCODE Project Writes Eulogy for Junk DNA
- BBC Radio 4 — Frontiers
After reading the farcical articles in the press, and even press releases from ENCODE themselves, I was looking for a nice link as a rebuttal to the hyperbole and misinformation. I discovered this blog and your body of work on this subject is great! Good job.
Chris Day(Quote)
Thank you!
T. Ryan Gregory(Quote)
Mr Gregory as far as I know (and you can correct me if i’m wrong) ENCODE is an international consortium in which all participants agreed to share information and data freely, and also agreed to not concern themselves with issuing patents or other purposes of financial gain. The reason being, that the sheer size of data was much to large for anyone group to handle, and by doing it this way, would insure a much more practical solution in so far as resolving many of these unknowns.
Furthermore I have not encountered anyone who is grandstanding and trying to accept all or even most of the credit. In fact I hear the opposite. It seems many participants are praising and giving credit to others and to the entire participating science community as a whole. (Of course I am excluding those who are not part of ENCODE and who may be involved for financial gain and or other reasons.
So we can rule out financial incentive (especially if data is inaccurate or being distorted) and at the same time we can rule out personnel glory (which would also rule out motivation for sensationalism) and for the reasons already mentioned. So my question to you is, why do you believe there is some kind of conspiracy? (Excluding the general media) In your opinion, what do you think the motivation is for respected peer review science journals trying to sell snake oil?
THEMAYAN(Quote)