Our GMO restaurant pop-up, FARMA, was just featured in The Economist. www.economist.com/science-and...

Some fun numbers about the "speeds" of cells: 1. Sugar molecules move at ~250 mph in a cell, about 2x the speed of a Cessna 172 plane. 2. Every protein is hit by ten trillion water molecules each second. 3. ATP synthase (which makes ATP) spins around 8,040 times per minute.

We recently interviewed Ilan Gur, the CEO of the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). Eric Gilliam asked Gur about how ARIA is different from DARPA or a venture capital firm, and how big of an impact is big enough. Interesting throughout.

There are ~10 quintillion insects alive right now, collectively weighing one billion metric tons. Each year, a large portion of them enter a dormant state, similar to hibernation, called diapause. We can control diapause — for agriculture or disease control — using chemicals.

Many people dismiss leech therapy as unscientific; a relic of outdated ways. But there is evidence that leeches can treat a wide range of conditions. Their saliva is filled with molecules that decrease inflammation, for example. It's time we recognize the efficacy of leeches.

We got ~200 more Asimov Press books shipped in, and we're selling them at 50% off. Books are $10 a copy. Book + DNA capsule is $30. Free shipping on all orders. If you would like a copy, now is a good time to buy and support our work! Links: press.asimov.com/books

We recently published a huge poster showing the different vectors used to make gene therapies, such as AAV, adenovirus, lentivirus, and more. The full article is here: press.asimov.com/articles/ge...

Some fun facts about Gregor Mendel: 1. He smoked 20 cigars a day. 2. He bred more than 10,000 plants to make his genetics discoveries. 3. In his obituary, he was mostly remembered as a great beekeeper. 4. Most of his papers were burned after his death.

A VISUAL GUIDE TO GENE DELIVERY There are at least 10,000 known monogenic diseases. Many scientists are trying to build gene therapies to cure some of them. Learn about tradeoffs between the various delivery options—from AAV to LNPs to Herpes Virus—in our latest article.

Our Issue 07 launch party in San Francisco was a smashing success. 🏏 Thanks to everyone who came and played Biology Trivia. Winning teams got copies of our DNA books, hats, and posters. It was a really fun time! See you in the fall, in Boston, for the next one. :)

In 1931, Stanford doctors tested whether DNP—an explosive chemical used during WWI—could help people lose weight. Daily DNP administration led to a 40% increase in metabolic rate. Patients lost 0.9 kg per week on average; comparable to Ozempic. From our latest article.🔻

French munitions workers during WW1 mysteriously began losing weight. One of their explosive chemicals, called DNP, caused it. This became one of the first effective weight-loss drugs. But a newly-established FDA banned it for safety reasons in the late 1930s. By Alex Telford.

Uncertain Origins of Aspirin 💊 It's hard to know where this incredible pain reliever actually came from. Willow bark tea? Hippocrates? Or John Reverend Stone? The trail is littered with bad record keeping and obscure translations. Our latest explains what we know for sure.🔻

Issue 07 is coming on Monday. It features essays on aspirin's uncertain origins, how to scale proteomics, the first weight-loss drugs, and more. Also, we dropped new merch to celebrate and we're hosting a BIOLOGY TRIVIA NIGHT on July 23 in San Francisco. RSVP at the link below.

Last October, we published a sci-fi story about a future restaurant in San Francisco that serves diners cultured meats, sonic-aged drinks, and exotic GMO fruits. In April, we brought it to life. We opened a pop-up restaurant and served diners a futuristic meal from 2055. 🔻

We've been working on this resource for months: A VISUAL GUIDE TO GENOME EDITORS. Learn how tools like Cas9, Cas13, prime editors, and Bridge editors work - with diagrams! We hope this becomes a valuable resource for the biology community and students.

Nature is a pharmaceutical innovator. Ziconotide, derived from cone snail venom, treats chronic pain better than opioids. Alpha amanitin, a deadly mushroom toxin, is being used as a targeted cancer therapy. More examples abound. Our latest: TOXIC PROTEINS FOR DRUG DISCOVERY.🔻

Beneath your feet, billions of soil bacteria harbor antibiotic resistance genes that can leap into pathogens. Scientists today are studying these environmental samples to predict—and hopefully prevent—the next wave of antibiotic resistance. Column: RESERVOIRS OF RESISTANCE 🔻

Every year, billions of newborn chicks are killed, simply because they're male and not of use to the egg industry. New technologies enable in ovo sexing; it's now possible to figure out a chick's sex before it hatches, and destroy the egg. Our deep dive: "Before They Hatch." 🔻

Progress in biology is too slow. Even simple experiments often take several days of work to complete. Software, by contrast, compiles in seconds. It's what makes programming "flow-inducing." We need faster feedback loops in biology. Our latest article explains where to start🔻

A single E. coli is 70 percent water. The other 30 percent is mostly proteins. A single type, called Lpp, accounts for ~1/3 of all proteins in a cell. It takes less energy to build a cell than it takes to lift an apple from the ground to a height of one meter. New post by me🔻

Yes, we finally have a merch store 😎 Two high-quality t-shirts, a sweater, and many stickers to choose from. All custom-designed by Iris Fung & Ella Watkins-Dulaney (human artists.) We'll add more products monthly! Oh, and we're shipping internationally. Check it out 🔻

Proteins are more liquid than solid; they bend and twist incessantly. But AI tools to design new proteins are often unable to replicate this dynamism, in part because methods to study proteins capture static snapshots. Deadly proteins, called prions, may help solve the problem.

Edward Jenner administered the world's first vaccine, for smallpox, in 1796. At the time, smallpox caused nearly 1/5 of ALL deaths in London. But it was the unsung scientists, Gaston Ramon and Alexander Glenny, who discovered adjuvants and made modern vaccines possible. Story🔻

How far would you go for a Nobel Prize? Well, the two scientists who discovered hormones secreted by the hypothalamus spent a full 26 years grinding up millions of brains and sabotaging each other’s careers — all for a ¼ share of science’s highest honor. This is their story.

How do you measure something you can’t see? In the 1800s, before microscopes capable of seeing individual molecules, Lord Rayleigh used olive oil to calculate the size of a single molecule. His method was so simple, Benjamin Franklin almost discovered it a century earlier.

In 1904, a physician took soil he had “impregnated with a living emulsion” of a virulent bacterium, Serratia marcescens, and sprinkled it in front of the UK House of Commons. This was an early experiment to study how microbes spread through buildings and cause infections...

Our latest book was mentioned in The New Yorker magazine. Specifically, in a March 20th article on DNA data storage. Bucket list item ✅

We're immensely grateful to Stripe for supporting both our digital Issues and printed books throughout 2025. Their support will enable us to host more in-person events, publish more in-depth stories, kickstart our efforts to quantify biotechnology, and more. Thank you!

Just Published: A look inside @FutureHouseSF, the nonprofit trying to build an AI scientist. We sent a photographer to their HQ in San Francisco and interviewed both co-founders, @SGRodriques and @andrewwhite01. Check it out in the link below.

In 2000, a physicist made bacteria blink. He did so by stitching together individual pieces of DNA to build a "genetic circuit," called the repressilator. We recently published an interactive article explaining how the repressilator works, and how one can tune its dynamics. 🧵

Jennifer Lai Remmel was born with a rare mutation that causes stomach cancer. After watching her mother die from the disease — and after removing her own stomach with 115 sites of carcinoma — she decided to test her own embryos and heal her family's future. This is her story.

Three announcements today: 1. We're partnering with @AsteraInstitute for the next two years to tell deep stories about how science is done. 2. We're hiring a Researcher, the first major expansion of our team. 3. Issue 06 launches tomorrow! 🧵

The deepest article I've seen on the "miracle" drug, lenacapavir, and how it was made. One section explains in LOTS of detail how lenacapavir shuts down the HIV capsid (despite claims by drug developers that it couldn't be done) and why the molecule has ten (!) fluorine atoms.

New episode alert! @andrewhunt.bsky.social and Heidi Klumpe chat with Niko McCarty (@nikomccarty.bsky.social), scientist turned writer & founding editor at @asimovpress.bsky.social. Discover his journey from lab bench to byline and get tips for deep-dive science journalism: tinyurl.com/y4z6fpwr

A single injection of a drug, called lenacapavir, protects 96-100 percent of recipients from HIV for up to six months. It's the best HIV preventive ever made. To close out Issue 05, Kamal Nahas explains how Gilead made it & why getting it to those who need it will not be simple.🔻

Can we treat brain disorders by restoring neural connections? For centuries, neuroscientists could only guess. But connectomics—a method seeking to create a 3D model of every neural connection in the brain—is moving closer to providing answers. E11 Bio is at the forefront...🧵

Today we're announcing our first partnership of 2025! This year, we're partnering with Convergent Research to publish seven deep articles about nonprofit, focused research organizations. Our first article, an inside look at E11 Bio, comes out tomorrow.

Parkinson’s disease is thought by many to be a uniquely human disease. But in 2020, researchers in China claimed they found a macaque with naturally occurring Parkinson’s. If true, their finding could drastically change how we study and treat the disease.

Indoor air quality has been a problem for most of human history. From Viking longhouses to 19th-century London, the struggle to breathe clean air has shaped how we build, live, and even govern. This is the BATTLE FOR BETTER AIR. 🧵

More than *half* of all studies performed with mice use the C57Bl/6 strain. >250,000 published papers have relied upon this animal. The strain originated, perhaps surprisingly, from mice bred by ABBIE LATHROP on a tiny farm in Granby, Massachusetts in the early 20th century. 🧵

Synthetic biology began with a blinking bacterium. In 2000, Michael Elowitz & Stainlas Leibler reported one of the first synthetic gene circuits, an oscillator that made cells "glow" in regular rhythms. We interviewed Elowitz to learn more. Archives: press.asimov.com/articles/sy...

Most people misunderstand the Central Dogma. In school, perhaps you were taught it as “DNA → RNA → protein.” But that’s a massive oversimplification. Francis Crick’s real "Central Dogma" was about what *cannot* happen in a cell. Let’s break it down. 🧵

All of our articles are also uploaded as audio podcasts on Spotify, Apple Music, and Substack. We just released an audio version of "Tinker," a sci-fi story that imagines a future in which AIs design their own chips to train their successors. Just search "Asimov Press"!

Flu pandemics have appeared every 10 to 50 years for millennia. Vaccines have been available for 80 years, but reduce infection risks by just 40% on average. How can we make "universal" vaccines that confer lifelong immunity against any strain of flu: past, present, or future?