I found the last couple of sentences of this article particlularly interesting. Any thoughts? Is this Dr. Collins a scientific heretic/hack, or is the question of what makes us human more than a purely scientific question?
Scientists find chimps, people are 96 percent identical
CHIMPANZEE GENOME SEQUENCED, COMPARED TO HUMANS'
By Lisa M. Krieger
Mercury News
An international team of scientists today announced the first comprehensive comparison of the genetic blueprints of humans and chimps, an effort that explains what makes us so similar to our closest living relative -- yet so strikingly different.
``The differences shed light on our uniqueness,'' said Dr. Eric Lander, director of the Broad Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts and one of the principal investigators of the project.
The insights will contribute to medicine, because many of the differences relate to disease susceptibility. Humans die from illnesses like malaria, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease, while chimps are immune.
They could also explain other evolutionary changes that caused the species to diverge -- and gave humans the ability to walk, talk, use tools, ponder the future and build giant societies.
The genetic sequences of the most important parts of the human and chimp genomes are about 99 percent identical, according to the analysis by 67 researchers, including a team from the University of California-Santa Cruz. Part of the chimp genome is not shared by humans; part of the human genome is not shared by chimps.
When the genomes of the two species are compared more broadly, including non-functional ``junk DNA,'' they are 96 percent identical.
While this sounds like a close connection, people are far more closely linked to each other, the scientists explained. There is only a .1 percent difference between individual humans -- in other words, there are 10 times fewer differences between all humans than there are between humans and chimps.
The news, announced at a Washington, D.C., press conference, echoed the excitement of the first complete sequencing of the human genome in 2001.
``It adds great richness to something that was one-dimensional,'' said Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, who led the human sequencing project.
A large collection of papers, to be published Thursday in the journals Nature and Science, describe a broad range of chimp-based research.
Several papers explore chimp evolution, fossilized remains and their ecological future.
Others, focused on genetics, describe three major accomplishments:
• Sequencing of a genome from a single chimp, named Clint.
• Alignment of the chimp genome against a human genome.
• Analysis of the two genomes, sifting through data to find areas of similarities and differences.
The final step, which will fuel years of further research, is to understand what these differences mean.
Humans and chimps shared a common ancestor 6 million years ago, then parted ways. How we changed, and why, has long intrigued scientists.
``The similarities between man and chimp have fascinated us across time,'' said LaDeana W. Hillier of the Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University School of Medicine. ``It is a privilege to see those very specific similiarities at the molecular level.''
The DNA differences will offer clues to the mysteries of aging and disease.
The genome comparison finds some of the most dramatic differences in regions thought to cover the immune system. This would explain varying susceptibilities to disease. Other regions, such as those governing the nervous system, seem very similar.
As scientists compare genomes more closely, they will seek genetic ``outliers'' in individuals -- patterns that do not conform to those in the general population. This would suggest a unique trait, such as suspectibility to a rare disease.
The analysis also depicts evolutionary change. It shows that chimp and human genomes have changed over 6 million years, due to selective pressures of their different environments, said Dr. Robert Waterson, chair of the Department of Genome Sciences of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
``I couldn't imagine Darwin hoping for stronger confirmation of his ideas than this,'' said Waterson.
Added Collins: ``We can peek into evolution's lab notebook to see what is going on.''
Yet even this collection of elegant new research will not explain everything about what makes us human, the scientists conceded.
``The real question of what makes us human is more than a biological question,'' said Collins. ``It is also a theological question.
``Knowing how the nervous system acts may not tell us about other aspects of humanity, like how do we know what is right and wrong? And what is the human spirit?''