1950's Science and Technology | DNA

Combining Cells.

The purpose of sex is to create a new generation. Its methodology is the transmitting of genetic material. This genetic material is contained within the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the nucleus of our cells. Within DNA are regions called genes. These genes carry the code for manufacturing the various proteins that allow the cells to function and make us what we are. The sex cells, sperm and ova, contain only one copy of the DNA (some of which was from the mother and some from the father in each sex cell). When these cells combine, they provide the double strand of DNA required to make new cells with a unique genetic code.

Learning the Process.

In the early 1950s very little was known about genes and how they function. The major achievement of the decade was determining the structure of DNA. With that knowledge, scientists determined that DNA contained the code for genes. Three molecular biologists...