Epigenetics has become a hot topic in biology. There are players "above DNA"– some heritable – that may be more important than the genetic code itself.
The race continues between scientists desperately seeking a rationale for harvesting human embryos and those who say, having adult stem cells and iPS cells available, they are unnecessary – and their use is unethical.
At least 80% of the human genome is functional, scientists now say, based on a genetic survey called ENCODE that may force reassessment of what a gene is.