The “bombshell” article referenced in the last episode of MATI about chimps and humans not being as similar as previously thought is a total misreading of what the study actually says and what the “1% difference” figure actually means. It does not “overturn long-held scientific beliefs". All it did was confirm what we’ve already known for decades. I'll
attempt to explain what it actually means as a layman.
The study measured gap divergence. Which is basically comparing the amount of missing or extra nucleotides in separate DNA sequences. Typically, these gaps occur in less stable regions and have virtually no effect on the organism as a whole. Gap divergence is something that can vary widely even between members of the same species. In fact, this same study also found a gap divergence of 15% between two gorillas. So a difference of 12-15% between humans and chimps is not surprising, nor is it anything that we didn’t know previously. Many other studies have produced very similar results.
What’s much more important when comparing two different species (and where the 1-2% figure comes from) is “aligned divergence”, which focuses on positions that can be reliably compared. It doesn’t include this less relevant information. It looks at gradual, consistent evolutionary changes in DNA sequencing. This is how we measure the molecular clock (how long ago two species split from a common ancestor).
To add some perspective, we share more genetic commonalities with chimps than chimps do with gorillas, mice with rats, horses with donkeys, sheep with goats, or ducks with geese.
Here's a more in depth article written by someone who, unlike me, has a solid grasp on this topic.
https://discourse.peacefulscience.o...r-humans-and-chimps-are-only-85-similar/17309"