One of the things that really appalled me as I started learning (was it only last year?) about FOSS, "intellectual property", and other related matters was the fact that a man named Malcolm Simons has patents on "junk DNA". In case you don't know it, Simons "successfully applied for several patents involving access to the information that is embedded in the non-coding DNA of all species."

Although I confess that I don't understand the technical issues here, I can't see how the granting of these patents will ever help society as a whole. I see at as Mr. Simons legally taking advantage of a situation before not much is known and understood about the subject.

This article came out in Nature.com a few days ago, under the titles "'Junk' DNA reveals vital role - Inscrutable genetic sequences seem indispensable."

The segments, dubbed 'ultraconserved elements', lie in the large parts of the genome that do not code for any protein. Their presence adds to growing evidence that the importance of these areas, often dismissed as junk DNA, could be much more fundamental than anyone suspected.


David Haussler of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his team scanned the genome sequences of man, mouse and rat. They found more than 480 ultraconserved regions that are completely identical across the three species. That is a surprising similarity: gene sequences in mouse and man for example are on average only 85% similar. "It absolutely knocked me off my chair," says Haussler.

As I analyze the language, calling it "junk DNA" seems very arrogant and shortsighted to me. We don't understand something, so we call it junk. Then we allow someone to patent it because it seems worthless. I think we're selling our future too cheaply.