Character (story)

Can you keep a secret. I am one of the biggest secrets in the universe, but I am also hiding in plain sight. In fact, I’m inside of you right now. I am in every single part of you, from the tip of your nose to the bottom of your feet. I live inside every living thing on Earth, from the tallest, mightiest redwood tree to the buzziest little bee, and even in the slimy snail that inches across the sidewalk. I am a super-long, twisty ladder, so tiny you can’t see me without a very powerful microscope. Think of me as a secret code or a giant recipe book that holds all the instructions for building and running a body. I am the reason you have your mom’s curly hair or your dad’s big smile. I am the reason a puppy grows up to be a dog and not a cat, and why a daisy is a daisy and not a dandelion. I carry all the plans that make you, you. My job is to hold all the information that makes every living thing unique. I am DNA, the blueprint of life.

For a long, long time, nobody knew I existed. People could see that children looked like their parents, but they had no idea why. It was a giant mystery. My story with humans really began on a quiet day back in 1869. A scientist named Friedrich Miescher was studying cells in a laboratory and he found me. He scraped some strange white stuff out of bandages and called it “nuclein,” but he had no idea he had just discovered the secret of life itself. He knew I was important, but he didn't know what I did. The real adventure didn’t start until much later, in the 1950s. By then, scientists all over the world were in a race to figure out my exact shape. They knew that if they could understand my shape, they could unlock my secrets. A brilliant and careful scientist named Rosalind Franklin worked tirelessly in her lab. Using a special X-ray machine, she took a picture of me. It wasn't a clear photograph like you take with a phone; it was a blurry, shadowy image that looked like a fuzzy 'X'. That picture, which became known as Photo 51, was the biggest clue anyone had ever found. Two other scientists, James Watson and Francis Crick, saw her picture, and for them, it was like a giant lightbulb switched on in their brains. They finally had the missing piece of the puzzle. They rushed to their lab and began building a giant model of me using metal plates and rods. Bit by bit, they built a tall, spiraling structure. They had discovered my amazing shape: a twisting ladder they called a “double helix.” On April 25th, 1953, they shared my secret with the whole world, and nothing was ever the same again.

So why was figuring out my shape such a big deal. Imagine having a book full of amazing instructions, but it’s written in a language you can’t understand. Discovering my double helix shape was like finding the key to unlock that language. Suddenly, scientists could read my instruction book. This changed everything. Because they understand me, doctors can now figure out why people get certain sicknesses and can work on new ways to help them get better. Farmers can use their knowledge of me to grow stronger plants that can feed more people. And one of the coolest things is that people can use me to explore their own history. By looking at the special code inside of me, you can find out where your great-great-great-grandparents came from hundreds of years ago. I can connect you to a family tree that stretches all the way around the world. Even though scientists have learned so much about me, I still hold many secrets that are waiting to be discovered. But the most important thing to remember is that the story I tell inside of you is completely unique. There is no one else in the world with your exact DNA. I am the amazing, one-of-a-kind story of you.