As a student in high school, I took the traditional sequence of science courses for my school: physical science, biology, chemistry, and physics. I have a distinct memory of biology where my teacher was talking about the special properties of DNA - the two strands "knew" to pair up with each other. I remember learning that RNA coded for protein and that the RNA "knew" which amino acid to get. I came away from this experience totally baffled by how all of this worked. I viewed DNA/RNA as some kind of sentient, special molecules. I tried asking my teacher how this worked, but all I got was the same explanation, only slower.

It wasn't until I took chemistry that I finally had the vocabulary to ask my question and to get the answer I was seeking. Of course DNA and RNA were just molecules composed of atoms! I finally understood molecules enough to know that there was not an inherent specialness to these molecules; it was just the ability of the molecules to attract each other that allowed the double helix to form and that attracted specific amino acids to the specific base pairs in tRNA. That insight made me aware that every THING was made of this wonderful stuff called atoms and molecules. It was my high school chemistry teacher who set me on the path that led to a degree in chemistry and later to becoming a certified high school chemistry teacher which allows me to share my insights with my students.