in every thousand,”

    to quote tisicist and recent Nobel laureate Joon—are y. Muc years of t, t. Otical. It is tions of ourgenomes—eacical, but not quite—t make us h as individualsand as a species.

    But ly is t, come to t, are genes?

    ell, start y-six little bundles of complexity, of y-ty-tions, every cell in yourbody—99.999 percent of t of cions are red blood cells, some immune system cells, and egg and sperm cells,  carry tic package.) Citutete set of instructions necessary to make and maintain you and are made of longstrands of ttle raordinary molecule on Eart has been called.

    DNA exists for just one reason—to create more DNA—and you  of it inside you:

    about six feet of it squeezed into almost every cell. Eacters of coding, enougo provide 103,480,000,000possible combinations, “guaranteed tobe unique against all conceivable odds,” in tian de Duve. t’s a lot ofpossibility—a one follo ake more t to print t figure,” notes de Duve. Look at yourself in t upon t t you are been trillion cells, and talmost every one of ted DNA, and you begin toappreciate just uff you carry around o a single fine strand, t to stretco t once or t again and again. Altogeto onecalculation, you may y million kilometers of DNA bundled up insideyou.

    Your body, in s, loves to make DNA and  it you couldn’t live. Yet DNA is notitself alive. No molecule is, but DNA is, as it  is “among tnonreactive, c molecules in ticistRicin. t is cigations and coaxed from t Neandertals