UTR and non-coding RNA: reconnecting terms to function

Scientific terms should be as accurate and meaningful as possible for both researchers and the general science readership. Currently, some scientific terms do not properly describe the activity or function to which they are associated to, being frequently characterized by negative reference to a prior feature or finding. UTR (Untranslated Region) and non-coding RNA fall within this class. In this article, I argue for a revision of these terms to account for the growing lines of evidence about their known function and activity in the cell.