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They designed mRNAs that would prompt cells in a dish to produce a fluorescent protein only if a ribosome “slips” and starts to read the three-letter codons incorrectly, a mistake known as a frameshift.

In virtually all organisms, these three stop codons are used to signal the end of a gene.

So-called transfer RNAs, or tRNAs, read the codons and act on their instructions.

Recognizing that trait in each other, Seth and Kimberly bond over their parallel irregularities: his obsession with anagrams and her genetically scrambled codons.

Many such mutations result in what’s called a premature stop codon, which essentially writes ‘The End’ in the middle of the gene’s protein-making instructions.