ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of nucleic acids

Okay kiddo, do you know that everything around us is made up of tiny particles called atoms? These atoms are like letters that make up a word. And when these letters join together, they form molecules.

Now let's talk about nucleic acids, which are special molecules that are found in our bodies. They are like the instruction manual that tells our body what to do. You can think of them like a recipe book that helps our cells make important proteins that our body needs.

But scientists need to understand these recipes really well so they can learn more about how our bodies work. And that's where nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) comes in - it's like a really powerful microscope that can look at these molecules in great detail.

NMR basically uses magnets to study the way these molecules interact with each other. It's like how a metal object gets attracted to a magnet, but with molecules, some parts will get pulled towards the magnet and others will push away from it. Scientists study this interaction to figure out the structure of the nucleic acid molecules.

It's like looking at a blueprint of a building so we can figure out how it was built. With NMR, we can see the shape and arrangement of the atoms in nucleic acid molecules, which helps us understand how they work.

So, in summary, NMR is a magical tool that helps scientists see the tiny details of nucleic acid molecules, like a blueprint of a building, so they can learn more about how our bodies work!