For over half a century, DNA has dominated science and the popular imagination as the “secret of life”. But over the last several decades, a quiet revolution has taken place. In a series of breathtaking discoveries, the biochemist Thomas R. Cech and a diverse cast of brilliant scientists have revealed that RNA—long overlooked as the passive servant of DNA—sits at the centre of biology’s greatest mysteries. In The Catalyst, Cech brings together years of research to demonstrate that RNA is the true key to understanding life on Earth, from its origins to our future in the twenty-first century. A gripping journey of discovery, The Catalyst moves from the early experiments that first hinted at RNA’s spectacular powers, to Cech’s own paradigm-shifting finding that it can catalyse cellular reactions, to the cutting-edge biotechnologies poised to reshape our health. We learn how RNA—once thought merely to transmit DNA’s genetic instructions to the cell’s protein-making machinery—may have
