The age of the genome. Part 2.

The second in a four-part series in which Richard Dawkins looks in detail at the discoveries and mysteries of the genome. In this part he looks at the genetic structures that have made us the kind of creatures we are today. The DNA of chimpanzees has been examined to explain how we evolved and genes extracted from fossil Neanderthal bones have been analysed. Many animals other than humans have had their genetic codes analysed, including mice, dogs, the duck-billed platypus, the chicken and the chimpanzee. Comparing our genetic codes with those of common mammals allows scientists to further understand human evolution. The techniques for processing and decoding DNA have become so advanced that it is now even possible to reconstruct the complete genetic code of creatures which died tens of thousands of years ago leading Dawkins to ask: could prehistoric DNA allow us to recreate the woolly mammoth?