The ribosome is a tiny organelle present in all living cells in thousands of copies that manufactures the protein molecules on which all life is based. It effectively operates as a highly organized and intricate miniature factory, churning out those proteins – long chain-like molecules – by stitching together a hundred or more amino acid molecules in just the right order, and all within a few seconds. And this exquisitely efficient entity is contained within a complex chemical structure that is some 20-30 nanometres in diameter – just 2-3 millionths of a centimetre.
-- from What is Life? by Addy Pross
Added 27 October 2014: Listen to this section of Radiolab's translation show.
Added 26 Jan 2015: "We are all just different kinds of homes to the ribosomes!"
Image: David S. Goodsell, the Scripps Research Institute via RSBC Protein Data Bank
Added 27 October 2014: Listen to this section of Radiolab's translation show.
Added 26 Jan 2015: "We are all just different kinds of homes to the ribosomes!"
Image: David S. Goodsell, the Scripps Research Institute via RSBC Protein Data Bank
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