Molecular Biology: Glimpse of the Helix

Using wire models, intuition, a limited knowledge of chemistry and trial-and-error methods, Researchers James Watson and Francis Crick determined that the heredity-transmitting DNA molecule is shaped like a spiral staircase. Al though they had no way of taking a firsthand look at their discovery, they managed to deduce a detailed description of the now famous "double helix" that paved the way for the new science of molecular biology and won them the Nobel Prize. For all the work that has been done in the field since Watson and Crick made their pioneering studies in 1953, no one had been able...

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