apes

Bonobos, along with chimpanzees and orangutans, are humans’ closest genetic relatives, and are frequently studied for clues about the nature of human evolution. These Great Apes are, as it turns out, a lot like us, but a recent study reveals something about bonobos that we’d perhaps rather not know. Often referred to as the “hippie” apes (partially because bonobos have a lot of casual sex . . a perfectly acceptable “Hey, how’s it going?” in bonobo-speak), bonobos don’t quite live up to the moniker, it appears.

For decades, people referred to the non-coding bits of DNA between genes as junk DNA. Then, in the eighties scientists discovered that some of that junk DNA served an important purpose. The DNA attracted or repelled transcription factors and RNA, greatly enhancing or inhibiting the potency of adjacent genes. Now scientists have just found that one of those gene enhancers may be what separates humans and chimps.