The ‘unknome’ catalogs nearly 2 million proteins. Many are mysterious

The new database could be used for finding ways to treat diseases or discovering drugs

An illustration of a DNA helix on a dark blue background.

The “unknome” database ranks human proteins by how little we know about them. Many proteins, and the genes that make them, aren’t well understood, and there’s still much to learn from the human genetic instruction book.

Richard Jones/Science Photo Library/getty images

When it comes to vast, under-explored frontiers, space and Earth’s oceans come to mind.