Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

by Neil Shubin

Just as paleontologists get to name new species, geneticists get to name new genes. The fly geneticists who discovered hedgehog had named it that because the flies with a mutation in the gene had bristles that reminded them of a little hedgehog. Tabin, McMahon, and Ingham named the chicken version of the gene Sonic hedgehog, after the Sega Genesis video game.

Just so you know, at least one of your genes is named after a video game.