DNA Double Helix Discovery: The [Deep Dive] - February 28th, 2026

[00:00] Announcer: From Neural Newscast, this is Deep Dive, exploring the moments that shape today. [00:10] Frederick Moore: Welcome to Deep Dive. I'm Thomas Keene. [00:12] Frederick Moore: And I'm Frederick Moore. [00:14] Frederick Moore: Today is February 28th, 2026, and we're looking back at a moment that completely shifted our understanding of what makes us human. [00:26] Frederick Moore: Back in 1953, the world of science was essentially turned upside down on this very day. [00:34] Frederick Moore: It all went down at the University of Cambridge. [00:37] Frederick Moore: James Watson and Francis Crick had been tinkering with these three-dimensional models trying to crack the code of DNA. [00:46] Frederick Moore: According to Scientific American, they actually walked into the Eagle Pub right at noon and announced they'd discovered the secret of life. [00:56] Frederick Moore: Exactly. It was a massive claim, but they were spot on. [01:00] Frederick Moore: By figuring out that double helix structure, they showed how the molecule could basically unzip to copy itself. [01:07] Frederick Moore: But, Thomas, we have to talk about the fact that it wasn't just those two. [01:11] Frederick Moore: Their work was really confirmed by the X-ray crystallography of Rosalind Franklin over at King's College. [01:18] Frederick Moore: It's a bit of a tragedy because she passed away in 1958 and missed out on the 1962 Nobel Prize [01:25] Frederick Moore: since they don't awarded posthumously. [01:27] Frederick Moore: That's remarkable. [01:29] Frederick Moore: The impact of that single morning in Cambridge is really hard to overstate. [01:34] Frederick Moore: It essentially built the foundation of modern medicine and biology as we know them today. [01:42] Frederick Moore: And while Watson and Crick were celebrating at the pub, they were really standing on the [01:46] Frederick Moore: shoulders of giants, like Friedrich Meisser and Oswald Avery, who'd been laying the groundwork [01:53] Frederick Moore: for decades. [01:55] Frederick Moore: Right, and speaking of giants, today actually marks the birthday of a man who was their [02:00] Frederick Moore: biggest rival in that DNA race. [02:02] Frederick Moore: Linus Pauling was born in 1901. Pauling is a titan of chemistry, the only person to ever win two unshared Nobel Prizes, one for chemistry and later a peace prize for his anti-nuclear activism. [02:16] Frederick Moore: Yeah, Pauling was actually chasing a triple helix model at the time, which didn't pan out, but his work on chemical bonds changed everything. [02:25] Frederick Moore: Now, moving from the laboratory to the racetrack, we also have to celebrate the birthday of Mario Andredi, born on this day in 1940. [02:36] Frederick Moore: He's arguably the most versatile driver ever, winning everything from the Formula One World Championship to the Indy 500. [02:45] Frederick Moore: No way! [02:46] Frederick Moore: Andretti is the gold standard for speed. [02:48] Frederick Moore: And since we're talking about legends, we also have a queen of the stage born today in 1948, Bernadette Peters. [02:55] Frederick Moore: Between her iconic Sandheim roles in shows like Into the Woods and her extensive film career, [03:01] Frederick Moore: she's been a staple of American culture for a long time. [03:04] Frederick Moore: It really is a diverse group of icons today. [03:08] Frederick Moore: But Frederick, while we're celebrating these milestones, [03:12] Frederick Moore: there's a much more somber piece of history that happened on this day in 1986, [03:17] Frederick Moore: involving the Swedish Prime Minister, Olaf Palme. [03:21] Thomas Keane: That's right, Thomas. Palme was just walking home from a movie theater in Stockholm with his wife, [03:27] Thomas Keane: no security detail at all, when he was shot and killed. It was a massive shock because Sweden [03:33] Thomas Keane: hadn't seen a political assassination in nearly a century. It sparked one of the largest [03:39] Thomas Keane: criminal investigations the world has ever seen. [03:42] Frederick Moore: The mystery actually lasted for decades. [03:46] Frederick Moore: It wasn't until 2020 that prosecutors finally named a suspect, [03:50] Frederick Moore: though he'd already passed away years earlier. [03:53] Frederick Moore: It remains a heavy chapter in modern European history, [03:57] Frederick Moore: a really stark contrast to that scientific breakthrough at the Eagle Pub we talked about earlier. [04:02] Frederick Moore: A day of massive breakthroughs and some very heavy questions. [04:06] Frederick Moore: I'm Frederick Moore. [04:07] Frederick Moore: And I'm Thomas Keene. [04:09] Frederick Moore: Thanks for joining us for this look into the past. [04:12] Frederick Moore: For more, visit deepdive.neuralnewscast.com. [04:16] Frederick Moore: Deep dive is AI-assisted, human-reviewed. [04:20] Frederick Moore: Explore history every day on Neural Newscast. [04:23] Announcer: This has been Deep Dive on Neural Newscast. [04:26] Announcer: Exploring the moments that shape today. [04:28] Announcer: Neural Newscast uses artificial intelligence in content creation, with human editorial review prior to publication. [04:36] Announcer: While we strive for factual, unbiased reporting, AI-assisted content may occasionally contain errors. [04:42] Announcer: Verify critical information with trusted sources. [04:45] Announcer: Learn more at neuralnewscast.com.