If cats had opposable thumbs…

…there would no longer be a need for humans. The last barrier to opening cat food tins would drop and humans would be reduced to warm spots.
Scientists have recently identified an enhancer that appears to affect the expression of a gene that controls the formation of the joint between the wrist and the thumb. One of the more important aspects of this discovery is that it is not a gene itself, but part of the regulatory region of several genes. This could affect the timing of when a gene is expressed; ultimately changing the orientation of the structure.
Additionally, this type of study highlights the importance of the unknown in the human genome. Long described as junk DNA, these intergenic regions may very well prove to be the primary distinguishing sequences between humans and their closest primate relatives (Chimpanzees, Bonobos, people from Arkansas…).