AT LEAST three human genes evolved “from scratch” via mutations in non-coding stretches of DNA, a process thought to be virtually impossible until recently. The genes evolved since human and chimp lineages split and so are unique to us.

“The three new genes seem to have arisen as a result of mutations in non-coding sequences of DNA”

It is tempting to speculate that uniquely human genes drive uniquely human traits, says Aoife McLysaght of the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, who discovered the three genes with her colleague David Knowles. But that would be premature: …