[HiTech RedNeck]

The fact that the sections have changed so little in the 400 million years of evolution since fish and humans shared a common ancestor implies that they are essential to the descendants of these organisms.

Or could it be the flourish in God's "John Hancock" eh???

[Dimensio]

Or could it be the flourish in God's "John Hancock" eh???

Gonna hafta go with Occam's Razor on this one.

[RightWingNilla]

Or could it be the flourish in God's "John Hancock" eh???

Only if his name is TAG-A-CAT

[AndrewC]

There are few similarities between one region and another, so these cannot be used to provide clues to their function. One laborious technique will be to genetically engineer mice that lack one segment and see how that affects their growth and behaviour.

Hmmmm. Absolutely no changes should be fairly indicative of immediate adverse consequences. But of course, this "junk" DNA was touted as "proof" (in the weak sense not the logical sense) of Darwinian evolution because it was "useless". Now it will touted as "proof" (ditto) of Darwinian evolution because it has a use. Go figure.