A marvel of modern scientific discovery – on a par, some scientists say, with splitting the atom, or landing on the moon – went largely unheralded when it was announced last week. The ancient story of war overshadowed accounts of the completion of the Human Genome Project, arguably a far more important development than the battle of Baghdad in terms of the future of humankind.

The successful sequencing of the three billion plus letters that genetically define a human being can be counted as a wonder of the modern world because it holds out hope for everything from the prevention, detection and treatment of human disease, to developing clean energy, reducing climate change and increasing the world’s food production. Perhaps even more wondrous, it was a government-funded project that came in ahead of schedule and under budget.