https://carywoods.github.io/biobook2/docs/foundations/Recent content in Foundations on Bioinformatics with AIHugoen-ushttps://carywoods.github.io/biobook2/docs/foundations/ch01-language-of-life/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://carywoods.github.io/biobook2/docs/foundations/ch01-language-of-life/<h1 id="chapter-1-the-language-of-life-the-language-of-code">Chapter 1: The Language of Life, The Language of Code<a class="anchor" href="#chapter-1-the-language-of-life-the-language-of-code">#</a></h1> <h2 id="11-a-virus-changed-everything">1.1 A Virus Changed Everything<a class="anchor" href="#11-a-virus-changed-everything">#</a></h2> <p>In January 2020, a novel coronavirus appeared in Wuhan, China. Within weeks, it had spread to every continent. Within months, the world shut down.</p> <p>But something else happened just as fast, and it didn&rsquo;t make the nightly news.</p> <p>On January 11, 2020, Chinese researchers published the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 &ndash; the virus that causes COVID-19. It was a string of about 30,000 letters. Just four letters, actually: A, T, C, and G. That&rsquo;s DNA (or in this case, RNA). That&rsquo;s all a genome is. A long string written in a four-letter alphabet.</p>