Brian Gallagher
The Quiet Revolution of CRISPR
CRISPR’s not on the cusp of anything.Wikicommons How many diseases could humans treat if the DNA in troublesome cells could be edited within the body? Half? Most? How about “absolutely everything”? That was the answer Irina Conboy, a bioengineer at U.C. Berkeley, recently gave to New Scientist. Her optimism illustrates the promise, announced three years […]
Should Scientists Publish Their Personal Biases?
What if scientists were more transparent about their values? Would their results and recommendations be better received and more trusted if they acknowledged any relevant personal beliefs that may have shaped their research? Nope. Transparency hurts.Photo Illustration by Francesco Izzo / Wikicommons A lot of modern science challenges us to change our behaviors. Results related […]
What Tech Can Learn from the Fruit Fly’s Search Algorithm
Scientists are starting to understand that search powers much of the natural world, too.Image by Intelligent Product Solutions / YouTube Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Verse 7:7 from the Gospel of Matthew is generally considered to be a comment on […]
Why Einstein Just Got Ranked as History’s Greatest Hero
Jesus Christ just missed the top five, coming in sixth.
Obsessed With Blastocysts
The discovery of stem cells—made possible by fundamental research in microscopy—sprouted a new field of medicine.Science Philanthropy Alliance / YouTube For the last three decades, Janet Rossant has been obsessed with the puzzle of how you got here. How did a five-day old blastocyst turn into a five-fingered baby? She found part of the answer […]
Is There an Ideal Amount of Income Inequality?
A conversation with this month’s Ingenious, Venkat Venkatasubramanian.
Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Your Free Will
How the attention economy is subverting our decision-making and our democracy.
Why It’s Good to Be Curious About Insects
One of the best jokes May Berenbaum, an entomologist at the University of Illinois, has ever told at a conference goes like this: A man walks into a doctor’s office, imploring her for help. “I think I’m a moth,” he says. The doctor goes, “It’s clear you have a problem, but I’m a pediatrician not […]
Why We Had to Change the Meaning of Nothing
Nothing” isn’t what it used to be. It used to be something self-evident: the opposite, or the absence, of something. We still use the word this way colloquially, of course. When I’m asked, on the sidewalk, if I can spare some change or a dollar, I say, if I have neither, “Sorry, I got nothing.” […]
The Problem with the Mutation-Centric View of Cancer
How risk-assessments of cancer go wrong.
