A video.

One of the most fundamental concepts in biology is what's called the 'central dogma'. It states that DNA carries information between generations, and that the DNA information gets transcribed into RNA inside each cell, which in turn gets translated into proteins that carry out the cell's functions. This basic pathway of DNA-RNA-Proteins is the essential foundation on which all biology rests.

How this happens on a molecular level is a question that has had the attention of molecular biologists for decades. Of course we know a lot about the steps, but explaining it to new biology students is still sometimes a challenge. To this end, a video from 1970 has resurfaced again - on YouTube! - that explains one step of the central dogma, namely RNA to protein translation. THe video uses human chains and groups to animate the process of RNA translation into proteins. It's quite funky and by far the best explanation I've seen about the subject!

I've embedded the video below, but you can also see it on its home page.

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