That's not really that bad, Adams said. Meanwhile, some dyspeptic outside parties aren't convinced that either team got the genome right. He sad there are actually 120,000 genes. Another company, Incyte, says there are 140,000 genes. So you see there are some discrepancies still to iron out before we can say we know with absolute certainty the secret of life.
Reductionism is a perilous business.
Look really closely at a Martian meteorite and you might see squiggly little Martian fossils, the first relics of life beyond Earth. But then someone else will come along and say you're all wet, that you're just staring at minerals. Nature up close is sometimes hard to understand. Everyone wants to find the deeper meaning of this scientific milestone. Venter said the genome is so puny, we must now conclude that the environment is more important than previously supposed for shaping a human being.