Agreed. While I think what ENCODE is doing is important, I feel that they oversold the value of their work. In my opinion, they obviously wanted to ensure continued funding.

It is not a bad thing that every once in a recession less fruitful areas of research are trimmed from funding to make room for more important work. To often scientist lose sight of why their research is important, and forget about trying to solve real problems. That said, too much money is poured into military research and not enough into basic science, which is what pays off in the long run.