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Dec 1, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Matthew Cobb |Asimov Press
By Matthew CobbThe Central Dogma is a linchpin for understanding how cells work, and yet it is one of the most widely misunderstood concepts in molecular biology. Many students are taught that the Central Dogma is simply “DNA → RNA → protein.” This version was first put forward in Jim Watson’s pioneering 1965 textbook, The Molecular Biology of the Gene, as a way of summarizing how protein synthesis takes place.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Asimov Press
An opinion essay by Liyam ChitayatThe cells within our body are the remnants of an ancient alliance. In a 1967 paper called “On the Origin of Mitosing Cells,” American evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis proposed an idea that, upon first hearing, seems ludicrous. Her paper, in fact, was rejected by 12 different journals before it was published. Margulis argued that one-and-a-half billion years ago, a primitive eukaryotic cell engulfed an oxygen-utilizing bacterium.
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Asimov Press
This essay by Kamal Nahas concludes Issue 04 of Asimov Press. In the 1924 novel, The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann describes a sanatorium patient named Anton Ferge as he undergoes a painful tuberculosis (TB) treatment. “I lie there with my face covered, so I can’t see anything,” Anton says.
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Oct 13, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Asimov Press
Xander Balwit, editor-in-chief of Asimov Press, writes about a restaurant that is bullish on GMOs and other food technology for Issue 04. When one considers the millions of permutations of foods and wines to test, it is easy to see that life is too short for the formulation of dogma. — A.J. Liebling, In Between MealsSince their conception, GMOs have faced resistance. Their reputation has long been sullied as unnatural or even murderous.
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Oct 6, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Asimov Press
Tom Ireland writes about technological advances — and roadblocks — in artificial wombs for Issue 04 of Asimov Press. The womb is a remarkable organ — a muscular, pear-shaped chamber that supports the transformation of a tiny cluster of dividing cells into an entirely new person. All humans begin their lives in this sturdy chamber. At least for now.
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Sep 29, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Asimov Press
Statistical models of organisms have existed for decades. The earliest ones relied on simple linear regression and attempted to correlate genetic variations with observable traits or disease risks — such as drug metabolization rates or cancer susceptibility. As computational power increased and machine learning techniques advanced, the models’ sophistication grew. In time, they were colloquially referred to as “models of life.” The definition was nebulous, but there were agreed-upon themes.
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Sep 22, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Asimov Press
Today, we’re launching Issue 04 with this essay about the future of fertility and in vitro oogenesis — a technology that could soon be used to convert human skin cells into eggs or sperm — by one of its foremost developers. Thanks for reading. In March 2023, a research team at Osaka University announced an extraordinary achievement: the production of viable eggs using cells taken from male mice.
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Sep 8, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Asimov Press
In this Column, Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace explain how charts can inadvertently manipulate reality. In 1994, the U.S. Congress passed the largest crime bill in U.S. history, called the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. The bill allocated billions of dollars to build more prisons and hire 100,000 new police officers, among other things.
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Aug 25, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Asimov Press
Saloni Dattani kicks off our pandemic mini-issue with an essay about the Black Death, and why it’s so difficult to answer a seemingly simple question: “Just how many people died from it?”We’ll publish a new essay about pandemics, and how biotechnology can help prevent them, every day for the next three days. Read the Editors’ Note on our website for more details. In 1346, more than five hundred years before germ theory, the Black Death spread relentlessly across Europe.
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Aug 13, 2024 | 
asimov.press | Asimov Press
We’re launching a special “Pandemic Prevention Mini-Issue” on August 25th. In the meantime, here’s an essay you might’ve missed from our archives: Robert Yaman explains how biotechnology is transforming animal agriculture. If one of our ancestors were to walk into a modern supermarket, they would be shocked by its abundance. Meat, eggs, and dairy—which at various points in history have been scarce, expensive, or contaminated,—are now common, affordable, and safe.
