Dr. Maria Papaconstantinou from the Human Biology Program at The University of Toronto reminds us that everyone is in fact a mutant; all humans carry gene mutations. Of the 20,000 or so genes in our genome, we have about 60 new mutations, or genes that don't come from our parents. Most of these genes are referred to as silent because they don't result in any visible changes. These gene mutations are important because they drive evolution which allows us to adapt to new environments