Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are increasingly recognized as having key regulatory roles in development and disease. However, these regulatory molecules often have short half lives and are expressed only in specific tissues or cell types, resulting in the poor representation of lncRNAs in transcriptomic datasets. Using novel detection and sampling approaches, we reveal a high-resolution spatiotemportal view of the long noncoding transcriptome that provides fresh insights into their roles in development and disease. Learning Objectives: 1. Provide an example of how a technology advancement has led to a key change in our understanding of the functions of the genome. 2. Explain the effect of increased cellular diversity on transcriptome coverage attained by RNA sequencing. 3. Describe the different ways that regulatory information can be stored in noncoding regions of the genome.