There were long stretches of DNA in between genes that didn't seem to be doing very much; some even referred to these as "junk DNA, " though a certain amount of hubris was required for anyone to call any part of the genome "junk, " given our level of ignorance.

Francis S. Collins
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When we look at the DNA of a living organism, we see a long string of chemical-coded information stretching between genes. If we zoom in, we can see that there are many, many "junk" stretches of DNA, all the way from genes to the tips of chromosomes. We believe that these stretches don't do anything because they are so far away from the genes. Instead, they may have been used to store information that was needed but no longer needed.

They may have been used to store information that was once useful but is now just extra baggage. In other words, the junk DNA may be a remnant from an era before DNA was important to life on Earth, when our planet had far fewer living things and there was not as much need for information storage.

Source: The Language Of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief

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