Could You Reprogram Life’s Genetic Code?

Could scientists make artificial life using simpler DNA language?

The genetic code is like a language made of four letters: A, T, C, and G. They are arranged into 3-letter “words” called “codons”. Life typically uses 64 of these codons to build proteins, but scientists wanted to see if bacteria could do with fewer. They engineered a strain of bacteria that uses only 57 codons, a simplified version of the genetic code. While the bacteria grew more slowly, it still survived, proving that life doesn’t need all 64 codons to function.