In his new book, “The Catalyst,” Dr. Thomas Cech describes how mRNA in the COVID vaccines encodes the virus’s spike protein. The following is an excerpt from The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock ...

Oceans churned with lava. Air filled thick with smoke. Asteroids stormed down incessantly. Life during the Hadean Eon four billion years ago was a struggle, and yet that was when it began. 1,2 With no ...

Life's instructions are written in DNA, but it is the enzyme RNA polymerase II (Pol II) that reads the script, transcribing RNA in eukaryotic cells and eventually giving rise to proteins. Scientists ...

Cells contain a blueprint in the form of DNA that dictates what they can make. This blueprint is converted into a message, or mRNA, which is then converted into protein. Although DNA remains the same ...

Despite being made from a relatively simple set of building blocks, ribonucleic acid (RNA) has a broad array of complex responsibilities. From providing structure to carrying the instructions for ...

A forested hill and clouds are in the background of an image of a shallow pool of steaming water, with the ground underneath colored in shades of beige, red, and brown. Life may have first emerged in ...

Neurons have a "hibernation mode." Scientists discover how brain cells use RNA tentacles to lock their protein factories together to survive when energy is low.

RNA is the molecule that reads the genetic information stored in DNA. It's critical for the proper functioning of cells, and in a new study scientists have discovered a way of tagging RNA with a ...