What made ribose the sugar of choice for life's code? Scientists at Scripps Research may have cracked a major part of this ...

DNA is fundamental to the biology of all life on Earth, but how many of us actually know what it is or what it's made of?

Watson, J. D., & Crick, F. H. C. (1953). Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature, 171, 737-738.

Evidence is presented that nucleic acid monomers can be transformed into long-chain polymers by wet–dry cycles simulating processes that are ubiquitous in hot spring sites associated with volcanic ...

Watson, J. D., & Crick, F. H. C. (1953a). Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids A Structure for Deoxyribose Acid. Nature, 171, 737-738.

However, the research leading to the discovery of nucleic acid structure started several years previously and involved many different researchers across the world.

Co-polymerization of glycol nucleic acid monomers with dicarboxylic acids in simulated early Earth drying environments readily gives rise to plausible prebiotic xeno nucleic acid co-polymers ...