Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for the discovery of microRNA, a tiny class of RNA molecules that play a crucial role in determining how organisms mature and function — and how they sometimes malfunction.

This isn't the first time RNA has been honored recently. The molecule has been something of a scientific darling of late: last year, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their fundamental discovery that made mRNA-based vaccines possible, a development that transformed the COVID-19 pandemic.