Jun 11, 2026 · 30 min · 11 segments
You might think DNA was always the frontrunner by biologists to be the master blueprint of life. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. This video documents how DNA went from experimental…
It was first isolated all the way back in 1869 by a Swiss physician named Friedrich Miescher.
He wasn't looking for the secret of genetic inheritance, rather, he was studying white blood cells.
Working in a drafty lab located in the converted kitchen of the Tübingen Castle in Germany, he first washed the bandages in sodium sulfate to get the white blood cells off the bandages but still keep them intact.
Then, to study the nuclei of these cells, he had to get past the cytoplasm, or the outer gel-like bodies of the cells.
To do this, he used a bit of genius and incubated the cells in a solution of pepsin, which he obtained from the rinsed linings of pig stomachs.
After this process, Miescher was left with a gray powdery substance, pure cellular nuclei.
He took that powder and washed away the nuclear membranes with a solution of water and diethyl ether, sliding the fatty material right off and washing the remaining nuclear material with warm alcohol.
Now with purified nuclear mass, he treated it with sodium carbonate, a slightly alkaline solution, dissolving the remaining material.
In the solution came the magic moment.
He added a strong acid, and suddenly, out popped a white sediment.
Because this substance behaved entirely differently from any protein known to science at the time, being highly resistant to protein-digesting enzymes and containing a substantial amount of phosphorus, he knew he had found something completely new.
Since it came exclusively from the cell nucleus, he dubbed the substance as nuclein.
But because it seemed so simple, the world of science largely ignored nuclein for the next 70 years, and scientists continued to follow the protein trail towards a possible key to life, a trail that would eventually lead to a dead end.
It was first isolated all the way back in 1869 by a Swiss physician named Friedrich Miescher.
He wasn't looking for the secret of genetic inheritance, rather, he was studying white blood cells.
Working in a drafty lab located in the converted kitchen of the Tübingen Castle in Germany, he first washed the bandages in sodium sulfate to get the white blood cells off the bandages but still keep them intact.
Then, to study the nuclei of these cells, he had to get past the cytoplasm, or the outer gel-like bodies of the cells.
To do this, he used a bit of genius and incubated the cells in a solution of pepsin, which he obtained from the rinsed linings of pig stomachs.
After this process, Miescher was left with a gray powdery substance, pure cellular nuclei.
He took that powder and washed away the nuclear membranes with a solution of water and diethyl ether, sliding the fatty material right off and washing the remaining nuclear material with warm alcohol.
Now with purified nuclear mass, he treated it with sodium carbonate, a slightly alkaline solution, dissolving the remaining material.
In the solution came the magic moment.
He added a strong acid, and suddenly, out popped a white sediment.
Because this substance behaved entirely differently from any protein known to science at the time, being highly resistant to protein-digesting enzymes and containing a substantial amount of phosphorus, he knew he had found something completely new.
Since it came exclusively from the cell nucleus, he dubbed the substance as nuclein.
But because it seemed so simple, the world of science largely ignored nuclein for the next 70 years, and scientists continued to follow the protein trail towards a possible key to life, a trail that would eventually lead to a dead end.
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