RILEY GORDEN is a molecular biologist, researcher, and emerging science communicator blending deep subject expertise with a compelling narrative.
If life were a novel, mutation would be it's plot twist.
In every human cell, millions of genes are copied each time a cell divides - and nearly every time, somewhere, a mistake creeps through. A single swapped base, a skipped codon, an accidental repeat. Most are harmless. Some are deadly. An a rare few, sometimes by nothing more than mathematical whim, become magnificent.
Without mutation, there would be no life, no change, no difference between a mushroom and a whale. But also: no thought, no poetry, no jazz, no innovation. Mutation isn't just a biological error. It is the seed of creativity - the molecular signature of becoming.