April 25 marked the 20th anniversary of National DNA Day, first approved by Congress in 2003 to celebrate the discovery of DNA and the completion of the Human Genome Project.
The dates chosen are significant dates in the history of DNA.
On this day in 1953, three articles on the structure of DNA were published in Nature.
This structural knowledge will open the door to discovering how DNA functions and how it was copied.
This is a moment in history that ranks as one of our species’ most remarkable achievements.
This discovery won a Nobel Prize. Names like Watson, Crick, Franklin, and Wilkins are in every biology textbook.
If you want to dive into the controversial history surrounding the discovery of the structure of DNA, search Google for the title “What Rosalind Franklin Really Contributed to the Discovery of the Structure of DNA.”
This paper was published in Nature on April 25.
A look back at the events leading up to the famous publication.
Deoxyribonucleic acid is the tongue-in-cheek name for DNA, as it is known to most people today.
We may know few of the scientific details of the molecule, but we know its basics and we know its power.
DNA can tell you about your ancestry and illness, send you to jail or release you from prison, and even tell you who your daddy is on your morning talk show.
It is the record holder of the evolutionary history of life on Earth, the fortune teller of the future, and the key to solving the remaining mysteries of biology.
Every year I have students extract DNA from cheek cells. For most people, it’s the first time they’ve ever seen one.
It could be more impressive, and most people describe it as looking like a runny nose. contains code to reconstruct a valid copy. Inside that famous double helix is a detailed life story for all of our planet.
The story of DNA has grown exponentially in the 70 years since the publication of its structure.
We live in a time when the imagination of researchers can unlock all the mysteries and even change the code to your liking.
We understood the structure in the 1950s, deciphered the code of life in the 1960s, and have refined it since the 1970s.
What we know today is staggering and still growing at warp speed.
The first human whole-genome sequencing wasn’t done until 2003, took more than a decade to complete, and cost about $2.7 billion.
Today, the entire human genome can be run in less than a day for well under $1,000. The ability to control code and create original code synthetically is getting easier, more accurate, and cheaper every year.
The possibilities are endless and gene editing is arguably the most powerful tool of our species.
It’s up to us to use that power to benefit life on Earth and keep it from going the other way.
In April 1953, we hope to celebrate the 100th anniversary of these famous publications.
I can only imagine what 30 years of DNA research and discovery will bring.
https://theparisnews.com/news/the-candle-dna-anniversary-reminds-of-major-discovery/article_385cb930-e6a6-11ed-a87e-2fdb820b4e7b.html THE CANDLE: DNA ANNIVERSARY REMEMBERS MAJOR DISCOVERY | NEWS
