The study by Rajagopalan et al. aimed to understand the diversity of small silencing RNAs (ssRNAs) in plants, specifically *Arabidopsis thaliana*. They used high-throughput sequencing to obtain 887,000 reads corresponding to small RNAs in *A. thaliana*, representing 340,000 unique sequences, which is a significant increase in diversity compared to previous studies. Most of these small RNAs were 24 nucleotides long and mapped to intergenic regions, with a higher density in pericentromeric regions. The researchers identified 38 new microRNAs (miRNAs) and other plausible candidates. One miRNA was found within the intron of *DICER-LIKE 1* (DCL1), suggesting a second homeostatic autoregulatory mechanism for DCL1 expression. Another miRNA defined the phase for siRNAs derived from a newly identified *trans*-acting siRNA gene (*TAS4*), and two miRNAs depended on DCL4 rather than DCL1 for accumulation, indicating a second pathway for miRNA biogenesis in plants. The results revealed a layer of miRNA-based control that is evolutionarily more fluid, employing many newly emergent and diverse miRNAs, each expressed in specialized tissues or at low levels under standard growth conditions.The study by Rajagopalan et al. aimed to understand the diversity of small silencing RNAs (ssRNAs) in plants, specifically *Arabidopsis thaliana*. They used high-throughput sequencing to obtain 887,000 reads corresponding to small RNAs in *A. thaliana*, representing 340,000 unique sequences, which is a significant increase in diversity compared to previous studies. Most of these small RNAs were 24 nucleotides long and mapped to intergenic regions, with a higher density in pericentromeric regions. The researchers identified 38 new microRNAs (miRNAs) and other plausible candidates. One miRNA was found within the intron of *DICER-LIKE 1* (DCL1), suggesting a second homeostatic autoregulatory mechanism for DCL1 expression. Another miRNA defined the phase for siRNAs derived from a newly identified *trans*-acting siRNA gene (*TAS4*), and two miRNAs depended on DCL4 rather than DCL1 for accumulation, indicating a second pathway for miRNA biogenesis in plants. The results revealed a layer of miRNA-based control that is evolutionarily more fluid, employing many newly emergent and diverse miRNAs, each expressed in specialized tissues or at low levels under standard growth conditions.