Here’s a curious science problem. The curators at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History are quite sure that humans differ from chimpanzees in our genetic makeup by only a little more than 1 pe:rcent

While the genetic difference between individual humans today is minuscule – about 0.1%, on average – study of the same aspects of the chimpanzee genome indicates a difference of about 1.2%. The bonobo (Pan paniscus), which is the close cousin of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), differs from humans to the same degree. The DNA difference with gorillas, another of the African apes, is about 1.6%. Most importantly, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans all show this same amount of difference from gorillas. 

“What does it mean to be human — genetics,” Last updated July 9, 2024

Now, let’s stop and take that in for a minute: Anyone looking at a human and a chimpanzee — and observing their respective ways of life — will see actual differences that are vastly greater than 1.2 percent.

A reasonable conclusion is that — if the Smithsonian estimate is correct — genetics doesn’t matter nearly as much as geneticists claim. What then is responsible for shaping life forms?

Smithsonian Curators Appear to Be Mistaken

At Evolution News, Andrew McDiarmid reported last month that the authors of a new paper at Nature find the differences to be more like 15 percent.

15 percent? Whew. Genetics makes a difference in how life forms look and act… So Crick and Watson, Collins and Venter and all the rest were onto something after all. Glad to hear it!

From McDiarmid:

For a long time, the public has been told repeatedly that humans are about 98.8 percent genetically similar to chimpanzees. This statistic has been quoted in many places, including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, by Bill Nye the science guy, and in major scientific journals like National Geographic, Science, Scientific American, and even Nature prior to the new study. If you Google “human chimp DNA,” the very first item that comes up is a statement from the American Museum of Natural History in New York: “Humans and chimps share a surprising 98.8 percent of their DNA.” This supposed high degree of genetic similarity has often been used as an argument for common ancestry between humans and chimps, and against human exceptionalism. The 1 percent statistic has become so widely cited and accepted that it could be considered an “icon of evolution.”

However, a groundbreaking new study published in the journal on April 9, 2025, is shedding new light on this topic. This study provides complete, from-scratch (de novo) sequences of various ape genomes, including the chimpanzee, allowing for a more accurate comparison than previous analyses that used human-guided scaffolding. According to Dr. Luskin, the data from this new Nature paper reveals that the true genetic difference between humans and chimps is significantly greater than previously stated. The difference is at least an order of magnitude larger, showing humans and chimps differ by at least 14 percent, a major revision of the old statistic. Luskin explains the significance of the finding: “This is really the first time that we can now hopefully get a much more accurate understanding of the true degree of genetic difference between humans and chimps.” 

“Breaking: New Study Shatters the 1 Percent Human-Chimp Difference Myth,” May 23, 2025 (Podcast with Casey Luskin)

From the study: “The most dynamic and repetitive regions of great ape genomes have traditionally been excluded from comparative studies. Consequently, our understanding of the evolution of our species is incomplete. Here we present haplotype-resolved reference genomes and comparative analyses of six ape species: chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan and siamang.”

Some researchers, perhaps anxious to support the 1 percent claim, insist that the cause of the ape–human gap the study authors found is technical failures or that the affected genetic regions are “meaningless” junk.

Luskin comments,

Again, what’s ironic is that the critics generally acknowledge that the new data shows humans and chimps are 15 percent genetically different; they are just trying to find ways to dismiss that number as unimportant.

The problem is that each of these objections is weak, and we have good rejoinders. Even if they have some relevance in some cases, they are no longer overriding considerations, and we have very strong reasons to think that the overall picture is that humans and chimps are far more genetically different than was previously thought.

“Critics Struggle with Evidence Humans and Chimps Are 15 Percent Genetically Different,” Evolution News, June 18, 2025

Many of us are just thankful that all those hardworking geneticists still have jobs. In principle, genetics should make sense and the new figures sound more like a genetic underpinning for what we actually see.

Efforts are underway to discuss the question with the folk at the Smithsonian.

Why Is the Belief So Important to Many Researchers?

When a belief conflicts with common sense present-day reality, it is usually upholding an irrational value. In this case, it is fair to suspect that the 1 percent myth is based on the belief that it discredits human exceptionalism. That is, if we differ by only 1 percent from chimpanzees, we can’t be much different from them and we had better get used to it.

If so, the researchers are not at war over a statistic. They are at war with reality. The reality is that they research chimpanzees and chimpanzees do not research humans. They defend their 1 percent statistic while chimpanzees throw poop at each other. They write papers defending their views while chimpanzees fight tooth and nail — because they lack any other means of communication.

This chasm cannot be wished away. Rejecting its existence leads to self-refuting nonsense positions like the 1 percent myth.

Cross-posted at Mind Matters News.