Hope emerged four decades later in the form of a self-described LSD enthusiast and California surfer dude named Kary Mullis, who also happened to be (and still is) a brilliant biochemist. In 1993, Mullis won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique that enables scientists to replicate DNA sequences ad infinitum and with perfect consistency. This means that even if they have only a single droplet of blood, strand of hair, or cell to work with, they can make limitless copies
