The age of the genome. Part 1.

The first in a four-part series in which Richard Dawkins looks in detail at the discoveries and mysteries of the genome. In this part he recounts how, ten years ago, an international group of scientists announced that they had succeeded in completing their first draft of the genetic book of human life. Dawkins describes how the The Human Genome Project began, involving thousands of scientists in many different countries. The discovery of links between genes and diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and schizophrenia has gradually been uncovered through the project and new advances in genome sequencing technology are taking research further still. It will be possible soon to request a full genome sequence in less than three weeks and full genome scans may soon become a part of routine health care. Scientists continue to be surprised by some aspects of the genome, however, as it appears we have far fewer genes than scientists had assumed - it is now known that it takes no more genes to make a human than it does to make a simple microscopic worm. The difference between a human and a worm is currently being put down to what researchers are calling the Dark Matter of the genome, 300 million letters of the genetic code which work in mysterious ways.