Index Archives

Life and Earth Sciences

Nine Epigenetic Editing Tools: Index #66

ByadminSeptember 13, 2022

Welcome to Codon. Each week, I highlight biotechnology advances. Sometimes I publish essays, too. Subscribe for free: President Biden signed an Executive Order yesterday, outlining plans for a U.S. Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative. No budget details just yet —

Life and Earth Sciences

Ribosomes Make Ribosomes Outside a Cell: Index #65

ByadminSeptember 5, 2022

People often ask about my ‘process’ in making this newsletter. So here it is: I’ve made a list of all the journals that a) seem reasonably reputable and b) publish synthetic biology research. I run a Python script to ‘visit’ each journal, each week, and retrieve potential

Life and Earth Sciences

Synthetic Embryo, sans Egg & Sperm: Index #64

ByadminAugust 30, 2022

Two studies this month have reported synthetic mouse embryos that can grow for 8.5 days without using eggs or sperm. News coverage has been surprisingly sparse (outside of the science journals), considering the massive implications and ethical consequences of this work. The

Life and Earth Sciences

CRISPR Can Cut Proteins, Too: Index #63

ByadminAugust 21, 2022

Never thought I’d write that headline. But a recent preprint shows that Cas7-11, in complex with a protein called Csx29, acts as an RNA-guided protease, meaning it can cleave other proteins. The results, which appeared last week on bioRxiv, will inevitably be adapted for

Life and Earth Sciences

Plant Engineering Lags A Decade Behind: Index #62

ByadminAugust 15, 2022

Many of the world’s greatest artists — Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse — died at the age of 27. Today, I turn 28. Plant synthetic biology is at least a decade behind. We’ve been building complex genetic circuits in

Life and Earth Sciences

Recoding the Human Genome for Viral Resistance: Index #61

ByadminAugust 8, 2022

I’m writing and editing weekly essays about science — history, problems with academia, alternative models — together with scientists, VCs, and entrepreneurs for New Science. I hope you’ll read them. You can subscribe here: newscience.substack.com. Also, thanks to everyone

Life and Earth Sciences

Prime-Edited Labrador Retrievers: Index #60

ByadminAugust 1, 2022

I’m writing this newsletter from Acadia National Park. Or, specifically, I’m sitting in an 1840s-era hotel with garish, floral, Victorian wallpaper. There are strange paintings in my room of children wearing old-fashioned gowns with those white, frilly things around the

Life and Earth Sciences

DNA Origami Ratchet: Index #59

ByadminJuly 26, 2022

This newsletter is bloated. I want the top section — the news piece — to stand on its own. From here on, Index newsletters will be only paper links. I’ll send long-form news pieces, essays, or industry highlights each week, too, starting next week. I just got married so

Life and Earth Sciences

Neural Network Made with Proteins: Index #58

ByadminJuly 19, 2022

Cells are bombarded with signals, shifting environments, cagey neighbors. And through all of this noise, through all of this drama, they must make the right decision, or die. Synthetic biologists want to engineer similar sorts of decision-making systems to build ‘smarter’