How does the cell convert DNA into working proteins? The process of translation can be seen as the decoding of instructions for making proteins, involving mRNA in transcription as well as tRNA. But ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. In 1957, just four years after Francis Crick and other scientists solved the riddle of ...

Across all domains of life, immune defenses thwart invading viruses by making it impossible for the viruses to replicate. Most known CRISPR systems target invading pathogens’ DNA and chop it up to ...