Toppling Another Evolutionary Icon, ENCODE Data Suggests Endogenous Retroviruses Are Functional

Recently a reader emailed us to ask about how to respond to the argument that some endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) seem to match the standard phylogeny of higher primates, supporting common descent. Endogenous retroviruses are thought to be parasitic junk sequences in our genome that were derived from viral DNA. Evolutionists often cite them as supposed evidence of common ancestry. The reader asked how many ERVs are shared between humans and apes.

These are good questions. ERVs are a favorit...