The more we learn about the genome (genetic blueprint) of different organisms, that more amazing things we find.

The human genome is very similar to the chimpanzee genome, but there are some differences. The original study of the chimpanzee genome ignored the Y chromosome (the male chromosome), as it is very repetitive and hard to understand. (Insert joke about men here.) For the rest of the genome, most reports list a similarity of about 98.5%

That may seem amazingly similar, and it is the most similar of the genomes we have sequenced. Then how can we be so different from chimps? First, that 1.5% difference includes thousands of base pairs. As we learn more about genes, we are finding that base pairs can be very powerful, turning multiple genes on or off.

A recent report in Nature shows that there is much more difference in the male sequence of the Y chromosome than was expected. While this is very exciting to scientists, keep in mind that this is one part of one out of 46 human chromosomes. The major differences control the production of male reproductive cells, being much more active in chimps than in humans.
There is still a huge amount that we don't know about our genome and the genes that make it up, but each new discovery gives us more tools to further the study.