It’s not all in the genes. From the estimable science writer Matt Ridley: “All over the world, therapists this week reported a wave of panic and depression as
word spread that the human species has only 30,000 genes. People wept openly in
the street, humiliated by the thought that we have only twice as many genes as
flies and worms, and barely more than cress.

Not since Copernicus demoted our planet to a satellite of the Sun, or Darwin
demoted our species to a branch of the ape family, has there been such a pitiless
reminder that there is nothing special about us. Hardly more complex than cress!

If the quantity of our genes is humiliating, the quality does not seem to offer much
reassurance. Scientists reported this week that about 60 per cent of our genes were
direct copies of ones used by flies, worms, yeast and bacteria: themes invented by
our common ancestors and used ever since.” The Age