A team of investigators led by Nobel Prize winner (2009) Jack Szostak, PhD, (University of Chicago and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute)has described a significant step forward in understanding the nonenzymatic copying of RNA (a process believed to be crucial for the origins of life) by demonstrating the activation of short oligonucleotides and the subsequent formation of monomer-bridged-oligonucleotides, leading to efficient nonenzymatic template copying in the same reaction mixture. The work has been selected as a “Breakthrough Article” by Nucleic Acids Research, whichis a publication of Oxford University Press and is fully open access. The journal’s mission is to provide outstanding, scientist-led evaluation and dissemination of the highest-caliber research across a wide range of disciplines focused on the role of nucleic acids and nucleic acid-interacting molecules in cellular and molecular biology. Breakthrough Articles at NAR describe studies that solve a long-standing problem in their field or provide exceptional new insight and understanding into an area of research that will clearly motivate and guide new research opportunities and directions. They represent the top papers that NAR receives for publication, and are selected by the Editors based on nominations by authors and/or reviewers, and on the subsequent recommendation of the reviewers and Editorial Board members.