[notshift]

> Half of our DNA is just old viruses which every cell in our body reproduces for no reason.

Seems like every time people think big things in the body are there for no reason, new developments later show them to be wrong.

I don’t care to say more than the above because I will already get downvoted for even this much.

[zaptheimpaler]

I think these are called retroviruses [1]. Not an expert but if I remember correctly, that DNA can sometimes mutate and turn into something useful and this has happened before so they're not totally useless. But most of the time that DNA is inactivated, non-coding so it doesn't make any proteins.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrovirus

[kalium-xyz]

The fun part is when you realize that the DNA in the nucleus of the cell is only the majority of our genetic information. There is DNA im the mitochondria and there are many side channels which carry genetics. We have a far journey ahead to even understand what we can already map. Not to disparage the efforts done but there is much more to this

[MichaelZuo]

What are the 'many side channels'?