Ribosomes produce proteins. They translate genetic information encoded in mRNA into a chain of amino acids, which folds into functional proteins essential for nearly all cellular processes. Key points:

• Location and structure: Ribosomes exist freely in the cytoplasm or attached to the endoplasmic reticulum (forming rough ER) and consist of two subunits made of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and proteins.
• Core function: The small subunit decodes mRNA, and the large subunit catalyzes peptide bonds to link amino acids into polypeptides.
• Process: During translation, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) bring amino acids to the ribosome in the order specified by the mRNA sequence, producing a growing polypeptide chain that becomes a mature protein after folding and possible post-translational modifications.

If you’d like, I can tailor this explanation for a specific organism (bacteria vs. eukaryotes) or go into the steps of initiation, elongation, and termination in translation.