lapply returns a list of the same length as X, each
  element of which is the result of applying FUN to the
  corresponding element of X.  sapply is a user-friendly version and wrapper of lapply
  by default returning a vector, matrix or, if simplify="array",
  an array if appropriate, by applying simplify2array().
  sapply(x, f, simplify=FALSE, USE.NAMES=FALSE) is the same
  as lapply(x, f).
  NOTE: This man page is for the lapply and sapply
  S4 generic functions defined in the BiocGenerics package.
  See ?base::lapply for the default methods
  (defined in the base package).
  Bioconductor packages can define specific methods for objects
  (typically list-like or vector-like) not supported by the
  default methods.