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If, for example, all the codons are triplets, then in addition to the correct reading of the message, there are two incorrect readings which we shall obtain if we do not start the grouping into sets of three at the right place.

Francis Crick

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Francis Crick
Age: 88 †
Born: 1916
Born: June 8
Died: 2004
Died: July 28
Biochemist
Biologist
Geneticist
Molecular Biologist
Neuroscientist
Physicist
Scientist
University Teacher
Francis Harry Compton Crick
Francis H.C. Crick
Place
Correct
Triplets
Two
Message
Grouping
Right
Messages
Triplet
Example
Readings
Shall
Incorrect
Start
Addition
Reading
Obtain
Three
Sets

More quotes by Francis Crick

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The balance of evidence both from the cell-free system and from the study of mutation, suggests that this does not occur at random, and that triplets coding the same amino acid may well be rather similar.
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It would appear that the number of nonsense triplets is rather low, since we only occasionally come across them. However this conclusion is less secure than our other deductions about the general nature of the genetic code.
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It is not easy to convey, unless one has experienced it, the dramatic feeling of sudden enlightenment that floods the mind when the right idea finally clinches into place.
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Moreover the incorporation requires the same components needed for protein synthesis, and is inhibited by the same inhibitors. Thus the system is most unlikely to be a complete artefact and is very probably closely related to genuine protein synthesis.
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You can do reverse engineering, but you can’t do reverse hacking.
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Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.
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Attempts have been made from a study of the changes produced by mutation to obtain the relative order of the bases within various triplets, but my own view is that these are premature until there is more extensive and more reliable data on the composition of the triplets.
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If poly A is added to poly U, to form a double or triple helix, the combination is inactive.
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We have to take away from humans in the long run their reproductive autonomy as the only way to guarantee the advancement of mankind.
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While Occam's razor is a useful tool in the physical sciences, it can be a very dangerous implement in biology. It is thus very rash to use simplicity and elegance as a guide in biological research.
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Jim and I hit it off immediately, partly because our interests were astonishingly similar and partly, I suspect, because a certain youthful arrogance, a ruthlessness, an impatience with sloppy thinking can naturally to both of us.
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A theory should not attempt to explain all the facts, because some of the facts are wrong
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Evolution is cleverer than you are.
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A man who is right every time is not likely to do very much.
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A busy life is a wasted life.
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Unfortunately it makes the unambiguous determination of triplets by these methods much more difficult than would be the case if there were only one triplet for each amino acid.
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Anybody who believes that the earth is less than 10,000 years old needs psychiatric help.
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How is the base sequence, divided into codons? There is nothing in the backbone of the nucleic acid, which is perfectly regular, to show us how to group the bases into codons.
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The ultimate aim of the modern movement in biology is in fact to explain all biology in terms of physics and chemistry.
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Since I essentially knew nothing, I had an almost completely free choice.
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