About 550 million years ago natural selection gave us animals, 200 million years ago we had mammals and a mere 300,000 or so years ago you got us, homo sapiens. The evolutionary process is a slow one driven by very slight incremental alterations over unimaginably large swathes of time. Except perhaps when it comes to De Novo genes.  So, what are De Novo genes and just how important are they? Aoife McLysaght - Professor in the School of Genetics and Microbiology in Trinity College Dublin and one of the co-authors of a paper which could re-shape our understanding of how evolution works joined Jonathan to discuss. Image: publicdomainpictures.net Futureproof with Johnathan McCrea Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Johnathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.    Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.    You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.