The study by Iyer et al. aims to delineate the genome-wide landscape of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the human transcriptome. The researchers curated 7,256 RNA-Seq libraries from various tissues, normal samples, and cell lines, totaling over 43 terabases of sequence from 25 independent studies. They applied *ab initio* assembly methodology to this dataset, resulting in a consensus human transcriptome of 91,013 expressed genes, of which 58,648 were classified as lncRNAs, with 79% being previously unannotated. The lncRNA landscape identified includes 1% harboring ultraconserved elements and 7% overlapping disease-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). To prioritize lineage-specific and disease-associated lncRNA expression, the researchers employed non-parametric differential expression testing, identifying 7,942 lineage- or cancer-associated lncRNA genes. The study highlights the importance of lncRNAs in normal biology and cancer pathogenesis and provides a valuable resource for future biomarker development.The study by Iyer et al. aims to delineate the genome-wide landscape of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the human transcriptome. The researchers curated 7,256 RNA-Seq libraries from various tissues, normal samples, and cell lines, totaling over 43 terabases of sequence from 25 independent studies. They applied *ab initio* assembly methodology to this dataset, resulting in a consensus human transcriptome of 91,013 expressed genes, of which 58,648 were classified as lncRNAs, with 79% being previously unannotated. The lncRNA landscape identified includes 1% harboring ultraconserved elements and 7% overlapping disease-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). To prioritize lineage-specific and disease-associated lncRNA expression, the researchers employed non-parametric differential expression testing, identifying 7,942 lineage- or cancer-associated lncRNA genes. The study highlights the importance of lncRNAs in normal biology and cancer pathogenesis and provides a valuable resource for future biomarker development.