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 ...

An innovative new technique uses a novel DNA barcode system to track hundreds of RNA and protein molecules in single cells within thick biological samples, providing researchers with a full picture of ...

CRISPR’s rise from obscure bacterial defense system to molecular scalpel has always hinged on one small component: the guide RNA. For years, that guide RNA—meticulously designed, modified, and ...

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. See more of our coverage in your ...