In a football field-size room that genetics researchers have dubbed “the factory,” row upon row of sequencing machines churn through strands of DNA and record long strings of As, Ts, Gs, and Cs. Each symbol represents the stuff of life—the chemical bases adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine that make up the genetic code of every living organism on Earth.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.