Abstract
A recent scientific study created a stir by asserting that humans and chimpanzees belong to the same genus. Morris Goodman, an evolutionary biologist from Wayne State University, and his research team generated this excitement when they compared human and chimpanzee genes. Goodman's team examined 97 genes that collectively consisted of 90,000 base pairs (genetic letters) - one of the most extensive human-chimp gene-to-gene comparisons yet made - and discovered a 99.4% sequence identity. This similarity led Goodman to conclude that, genetically speaking, chimpanzees are humans and belong in the genus Homo.