The Tiny, Random Errors That Can Kill

It’s easy to think of our cells’ inner workings as parts in a well-oiled machine—like tiny crankshafts and gears they chug along in their endless task of transcribing information from DNA, manufacturing proteins, and sending them off to transact the business of living.

Much popular writing about cell biology emphasizes the exquisite precision of this process, and not unfairly; these minute workings can seem far more exact than the human scale where we stub toes and struggle to assemble IKEA furniture. The fact that cells have proofreaders, proteins that skim along freshly