Hundreds of scientists are currently working together toward one common goal: to decipher the coded information in the human genome. A genome includes all the DNA within a cell's chromosomes. The human genome consists of an estimated 50,000-100,000 genes, plus a massive amount of DNA of unknown function. This monumental project, launched in 1990, is estimated to cost over three billion dollars and take more than fifteen years to complete. It is by far the largest coordinated effort ever undertaken in the biological sciences. Named the Human Genome Project, this undertaking promises to revolutionize medicine and biology by creating a complete map of the location of genes on all twenty-four human chromosomes.

This has already been achieved for simple viruses with very short DNA sequences. In 1995, Craig Venter and his research team at the Institute for Genomic Research in Maryland announced that they had sequenced the entire...