On May 27, 1961, Heinrich Matthaei, a postdoc working with NIH scientist Marshal Nirenberg, placed synthetic polyuracil RNA into 20 test tubes to see what it would produce. Each tube contained ...

When scientists discovered DNA and its double-helix form, they had finally identified the molecules that contain every human’s unique genetic code. But determining how those instructions were ...

Two-faced codon rewrites genetics? The genetics of a marine protozoan may overturn one of the long-held tenets of protein synthesis. According to conventional wisdom, the genetic code is unambiguous: ...