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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute?

Robin¹ Williams thought that the platypus² was cobbled together by an inebriated³ deity⁴: “Let’s take a beaver⁵.  Let’s put on a duck’s bill.”  Now we know how weird⁶ the platypus is at the genetic⁷ level.  Because researchers published the sequence of the platypus genome in the May 8th issue of the journal Nature.  Brown University biologist Kenneth Miller⁸ commented on the platypus genome research that same night at the American Museum of Natural History:“The platypus…has been known for a long time to have a very curious amalgam⁹ of anatomical features. So the interesting question is when we get a look at its DNA¹⁰ would it also have a curious amalgam of genetic features…it sure does.  In fact, parts of it apparently¹¹ were extremely difficult to sequence because they were so different from other mammalian genomes, to which we often compare sequences in order to align¹² them and put the sequence together.  It has not just a curious combination of mammalian and reptilian¹³ physiological¹⁴ features, it has a curious combination of mammalian and reptilian genetic features as well.”  “Okay, He’s a mammal.  But he lays eggs!”

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Steve Mirsky.