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

Researchers have just identified over 12,000 novel DNA sequences in the human genome, most of them in areas once thought to be "Junk DNA."¹ These newly discovered DNA sequences, called "translation-enhancing elements," jumpstart protein production in certain situations and provide a whole new perspective on how proteins are produced in the cell.

Geneticists have enough challenges trying to comprehend the enormously elaborate yet precise ways cells access, copy, alter, interpret, and execute linear-coded genetic information. But now, non-linear genetic information adds a whole new dimension that multiplies the challenge of comprehending a living cell's inner workings.

Not only have many pseudogenes been proven to be highly functional, a recent study has unveiled mind-boggling complexity behind the PTEN pseudogene, showing that it functions both forwards and backwards as part of an intricate gene network.¹