One of the most incredible things about life is that, despite its immense variety, it is expressed in the same way in all organisms. From simple, single-celled bacteria to complex, multicellular animals like humans, all life replicates itself through the same genetic language. This language begins as DNA, is transcribed into RNA, and is then translated into proteins.

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The letters of this language are a set of four nucleotides found in DNA: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). These letters are arranged into three letter words called codons. Each codon encodes for a specific amino acid, which are then joined together to form a protein. This language is universal. Across all life, each “word” translates to the same amino acid.

The process begins in tightly bound structures called chromosomes, which are composed of DNA molecules that have been wound around each other thousands…