Venki Ramakrishnan

Although if you had to ask my personal opinion, I think that We still need to have stronger evidence for that.

Although if you had to ask my personal opinion, I think that We still need to have stronger evidence for that.

People have already done that. So the structures of the ribosome do describe it in atomic detail. So we know the X, Y, and Z coordinate of every atom in one state of the ribosome. But remember, the ribosome is a highly dynamic machine. It moves around. It undergoes all sorts of processes. conformational changes. And so it's very much like watching a complicated machine which moves around.

People have already done that. So the structures of the ribosome do describe it in atomic detail. So we know the X, Y, and Z coordinate of every atom in one state of the ribosome. But remember, the ribosome is a highly dynamic machine. It moves around. It undergoes all sorts of processes. conformational changes. And so it's very much like watching a complicated machine which moves around.

Take a car, for instance. You have pistons that move around or a rotor that moves around in an electric car and wheels move and steering wheels move. So it's not a static object. And the ribosome itself is not static. It has complicated movements of its various component parts.

Take a car, for instance. You have pistons that move around or a rotor that moves around in an electric car and wheels move and steering wheels move. So it's not a static object. And the ribosome itself is not static. It has complicated movements of its various component parts.

And what people are trying to do now is to simulate, using molecular dynamics, how the ribosome might move over time and as things bound to it, for example, the mRNA bound to it and the small adapter RNA molecules called tRNA molecules that bring in the amino acids to add to the protein in the ribosome.

And what people are trying to do now is to simulate, using molecular dynamics, how the ribosome might move over time and as things bound to it, for example, the mRNA bound to it and the small adapter RNA molecules called tRNA molecules that bring in the amino acids to add to the protein in the ribosome.

So all of those things can change the conformation, the shape of the ribosome, because it's a dynamic machine. And people are trying to simulate that in computers.

So all of those things can change the conformation, the shape of the ribosome, because it's a dynamic machine. And people are trying to simulate that in computers.

I have to say, you know, I was a grad student in physics and I was trying to do condensed matter theory. And it was just so hard to make progress and do something interesting. And I used to subscribe to Scientific American. And I don't know if you remember, but in those days... all the articles were written by the primary scientists themselves, of course, with editorial help.

I have to say, you know, I was a grad student in physics and I was trying to do condensed matter theory. And it was just so hard to make progress and do something interesting. And I used to subscribe to Scientific American. And I don't know if you remember, but in those days... all the articles were written by the primary scientists themselves, of course, with editorial help.

It was really very much a first person account. It was really thrilling. But what impressed me was that every issue had big questions in biology that were being answered left and right. And I thought, well, you know, this is probably where I should be

It was really very much a first person account. It was really thrilling. But what impressed me was that every issue had big questions in biology that were being answered left and right. And I thought, well, you know, this is probably where I should be

So right after my PhD, I went to grad school again at UCSD to study biology because I felt I didn't know any biology, so I didn't want to do a postdoc right away. Right, right.

So right after my PhD, I went to grad school again at UCSD to study biology because I felt I didn't know any biology, so I didn't want to do a postdoc right away. Right, right.

Yeah, and I have to say, I thought I was in the middle of a revolution, but that revolution seems to still be going. It's been going for a long time. I would say ever since the discovery of the gene in the late 19th century, there's just been this steady onslaught of advances in biology. I liken it to how physics progressed very steadily after Galileo and Newton. and just kept on going.

Yeah, and I have to say, I thought I was in the middle of a revolution, but that revolution seems to still be going. It's been going for a long time. I would say ever since the discovery of the gene in the late 19th century, there's just been this steady onslaught of advances in biology. I liken it to how physics progressed very steadily after Galileo and Newton. and just kept on going.

And then when it was stalled, then suddenly you had quantum mechanics and relativity, and then there was another big wave. So I think biology is sort of behind physics by maybe a couple of hundred years. So it's not as mature a field as physics. And that's probably why I think physics is also harder, because it's more mature and the questions are harder.

And then when it was stalled, then suddenly you had quantum mechanics and relativity, and then there was another big wave. So I think biology is sort of behind physics by maybe a couple of hundred years. So it's not as mature a field as physics. And that's probably why I think physics is also harder, because it's more mature and the questions are harder.