Immutable No More: Evolved Ribosomes Expand the Chemical Repertoire of Living Cells

How a molecular machine four billion years in the making was modified to imbue cells with unnatural abilities.

Four billion years ago, a single-celled organism floated in the primordial soups of early earth. This ancient organism already had many of the makings of modern life forms, including a functional ribosome, the dynamic, nanoscopic machine that makes the thousands of unique proteins that cells need to survive.