Organisms are remarkably uniform at the molecular level. This observation is frequently referred to as the unity of biochemistry, but, in real- ity, it illustrates the unity of life. French biochemist Jacques Monod encapsulated this idea in 1954 with the phrase “Anything found to be true of [the bacterium] E. coli must also be true of elephants.” This uniformity reveals that all organisms on Earth have arisen from a common ancestor. A core of essential biochemical processes, common to all organisms, appeared early in the evolution of life.