Episode 3.3 · 35 min
The Genetic Code
How cells translate genetic information into proteins, why RNA sits at the heart of the ribosome, and what today’s shared genetic code reveals about its origins.
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50S-subunit of the ribosome 3CC2
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Press release: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 - NobelPrize.org viewport screenshot
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Calcium (Carbonate) Precipitation By Ureolytic Bacteria under Phase Contrast Microscope
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Oak tree Sunol Regional Wilderness California 2023 dllu
Daniel Lu ( User:dllu )
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Diatom of La Tembladera wetland
Priscila Jackeline Arias Ordóñez
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Humans Hand
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TRNA-Phe yeast 1ehz
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Scheme of transfer RNA (tRNA) charged with an amino acid
OpenStax (Rice University)
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Human Oxy-Hemoglobin Protein
PDB code 2DN1 1.25 a resolution crystal structures of human haemoglobin in the oxy, deoxy and carbonmonoxy forms. Park, S.-Y., Yokoyama, T., Shibayama, N., Shiro, Y., Tame, J.R. (2006) J Mol Biol 360: 690-701 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2006.05.036 Image created using JSmol (Javascript)
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PDB 4pep EBI
Jawahar Swaminathan and MSD staff at the European Bioinformatics Institute
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Woven and lamellar bone. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
Nazir M. Khan, Kari B. Clifton, Joseph Lorenzo, Marc F. Hansen and Hicham Drissi
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Scientific figure · source page 5
Radakovic et al., PNAS
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Singh, Powner and colleagues, Nature
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Reusswig, Balasubramanian, Richert (Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2024)
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Marshall Nirenberg performing experiment
MacVicar, N. - National Institutes of Health
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Murchison meteorite
Art Bromage
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Thermus aquaticus
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False Parasol mushroom in Kings Forest, Suffolk
Sophie Curtis
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Close-up of Emerging Fern Frond in Spring
Girela770
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Ardea herodias -Illinois, USA -flying-8
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Tropical Fish Swimming Underwater (46256605951)
Jernej Furman from Maribor, Slovenia
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Difference DNA RNA-EN
File:Difference DNA RNA-DE.svg : Sponk / *translation: Sponk
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Components of DNA replication in Archaea compared to Bacteria and Eukaryotes (Figure 1)
Raymann K, Brochier-Armanet C, Gribaldo S
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Iwabe et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Research references
Selected sources from the episode’s research and scientific figures.
- https://pdb101.rcsb.org/global-health/antimicrobial-resistance/drugs/antibiotics/protein-synthesis/ribosome/ribosome ↗
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26829/ ↗
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5492144/ ↗
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Utils/wprintgc.cgi ↗
- https://astrobiology.com/2026/07/23/tryptophan-became-part-of-the-universal-genetic-code-post-luca/ ↗
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK6360/ ↗
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12985370/ ↗
- https://pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/121 ↗
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2783306/ ↗
- https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2009/summary/ ↗
- https://www.rcsb.org/structure/4V5D ↗
- https://www.rcsb.org/structure/4V6F ↗
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41570-024-00656-5 ↗
- https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/records/5y24g-jaj84 ↗
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11514466/ ↗
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202410317 ↗
- https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkag404 ↗
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09388-y ↗
- https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2410311121 ↗
- https://websites.umich.edu/~zhanglab/clubPaper/01_31_2025.pdf ↗
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41555552/ ↗
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42308552/ ↗
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.09.071 ↗
- https://www.biorxiv.org/ ↗
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303264725002813 ↗
Music
- Meditation From The Star Orion
OctahedronMusic · Envato Elements
How this film was made
Created and editorially directed by Anders Lunde using a custom production system developed over six months. AI assists research, drafting, programming, and visual production; I review and edit the material and make the final editorial decisions. Narration uses text-to-speech. Visuals combine custom-built scientific animations, AI-generated reconstructions, and credited scientific imagery.
Generated reconstructions illustrate scientific interpretations. They are distinct from photographs, specimens, and measured data.
More about the creator and production →