Scientists studying the fungus Trichoderma reesei, which is used industrially to produce enzymes, found that the reference genes commonly used to measure gene activity (act1 and sar1) are not as reliable as previously thought. By analyzing genetic data from multiple studies, they identified two better reference genes called bzp1 and tpc1 that maintain more consistent expression levels across different growth conditions. Using these better reference genes will help researchers more accurately measure how genes are expressed in this important industrial fungus.