After fertilization, the gametes within the egg prepare to coordinate the formation of a new life. Genomicists have traditionally thought that this period, before a coordinating process called zygotic genome activation begins, is marked by genome disorganization. This initial period, they believed, was just a liminal transition state before the embryo began to sort itself out and start making a complex new organism.

Now, a pair of new studies suggests that, in this earliest stage of life, the genome is actually more organized than we first thought.