This discovery, made just three years after new technology first enabled Alvin to reach these depths, changed our understanding of how life can function here on Earth, and opened entirely new fields of research.

CNN: Probing the ocean's undiscovered depths

Meyers, a respected biologist at the University of Minnesota-Morris, noted over the weekend on his popular Pharyngula blog, the Encode research consortium that claimed to have identified function in 80% of the genome, actually discovered that a formula of 80% hype gets you the attention of the world press a point he pointedly made in his analysis last fall.

FORBES: Arguing Over Junk: Scientists Attack Each Other as Media Flub 'DNA Story of the Year'