Until recently, thousands of tiny, potential protein-coding regions in the genome called "small open reading frames" or "smORFs" have been difficult to identify. They are now getting well-deserved attention for the important biochemical functions they play in the cell—like making your heart beat.¹

A completely new category of circular RNAs has been discovered, adding another layer of amazing complexity to human genetics. These circular RNAs are formed from the intron regions inside a gene that were once thought to be nothing but junk DNA.¹

An important category of "rogue" genetic data that utterly defies evolutionary predictions is the common occurrence of taxonomically restricted genes, otherwise known as "orphan genes." These are now being discovered in the sequencing of all genomes.

Scientists have known for several years that the human genome is pervasively copied into various RNA molecules (transcripts), although scientists have been unsure about what much of it actually does. New research shows that about 10 percent of the genome encodes a newly characterized type of regulatory molecules called "vlincRNA."¹