Rapid and profound progress in understanding the molecular structures of DNA/RNA and how they determine the synthesis of proteins and expression of genes is at the core of modern genetics. Together with atomic and molecular models that provide insight into chemical bonding, we are gaining a glimpse of the unimaginable complexity, organization, and regulation of life's chemical processes which, in the end, are miraculously and incomprehensibly 'explained' by the strange rules of quantum mechanics [1] .
More on history of genetics and biotech
Schrödinger describes in his book 'What is Life?' how quantum mechanics can explain one of the most puzzling riddles of life, i.e., how the molecular stability evidenced in the conservation of a species' genetic information over generations is compatible with the fact that all individuals differ in detail. Schrödinger solves the conundrum by showing that the immense number of atoms composing a living organism, the endless variability in atomic and molecular bonding, and statistical interpretation of quantum mechanical rules related to 'jumps' in electron energy levels explain why heritable mutations are rare while non-heritable variations abound.