Scientists have found proof for the function of so-called junk DNA. As the first part of the 4-year-old ENCODE project, an international consortium looked at 1% of the genome, finding that much of it is transcribed. Their results indicate that intergenic regions are both transcribed and overlap and interact more than previously thought. They also found that many constrained regions were nonfunctional, putting the idea that constrained equals function into question. Read several news articles here and here.
A collaboration between the University of Pennsylvania and UCSD has identified new proteins involved in the miRNA pathway. The human RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) associates with a protein complex containing the anti-association factor eIF6, which they found to be conserved between human cells and C. elegans.
Move over, son, Gigantoraptor erlianensis is in the house. Paleontologists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing have discovered fossil remains of a new non-avian dinosaur the Late Cretaceous period in China. It's estimated to have tipped the scales at 1,400 kg, as compared to its relatives who weighed in at 40.