Razib Khan in Gene Expression:
What that brought home to me is that something that seems revolutionary near to your heart or field of occupational interest may not be so visible to those who are not similarly situated. My friend is a well educated person with a science Ph.D., but it was just not on his radar. Similarly, I had very smart friends in college who were evangelical Christians who were surprised by the high degree of identity between the chimpanzee and human in regards to our DNA sequence (they were Creationists, and skeptical of any close kinship).
Here's a final example that might interest readers. I had a long conversation with a relatively prominent journalist a month or so ago. Someone who writes in biology, and in particular genetics (who is not Carl Zimmer). I mentioned offhand to them that the work of various labs utilizing ancient DNA is showing rather conclusively that the vast majority of human populations are relatively recent admixtures between highly diverged lineages. To put it in plainer language: we are all mestizos! This journalist was totally surprised by this fact.
This indicates to me again that facts which are "known" in the "in-group" may be surprising to those who are not as hooked in. It isn't a matter of being educated, smart, or interested. It's a matter of narrowly constrained social channels.
Here are 10 facts that we've recently discovered about human evolution, with a focus on genetics since that's what I know best, which you should probably know.
More here.