Science: Nottingham Lace

Some molecules are so small that they contain only one atom. Some are so large that they contain hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of atoms. Although they cannot be seen under the microscope, the giant, complex molecules of proteins are among the most important targets of current research in biological chemistry. Until recent years not much was known about them except that they were very big; that they contained carbon, hydrogen. oxygen, nitrogen and sometimes sulphur and phosphorus; that in such animal processes as digestion they were broken down by protein-wreckers called enzymes...

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