In 1957, just four years after Francis Crick and other scientists solved the riddle of DNA’s structure—the now famous double helix—Crick laid out what he called the “central dogma” of molecular ...
Dr. Cech is a biochemist and the author of the forthcoming book “The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets,” from which this essay is adapted. From E=mc² to splitting the atom ...