Ex Astris Scientia

Allanite-(Ce), Spessartine

Well, this is definitely the most fun I’ve had while making a post.

Martian Dune Sand

It’s never aliens 👽

How One Man Tried to Write Women Out of CRISPR, the Biggest Biotech Innovation in Decades

On January 14, Eric S. Lander published an article in the journal Cell celebrating the “heroes” of CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary DNA-editing technology that may be the most important genetic engineering development in decades.

“It’s hard to recall a revolution that has swept biology more swiftly than CRISPR,” Lander, a biologist at MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute, wrote, noting that, although nearly every molecular biologist is familiar with the technology that allows scientists to easily disable or change the function of genes, they are likely unfamiliar with the manpower that went into its discovery.

“Yet, the human stories behind scientific advances can teach us a lot about the miraculous ecosystem that drives biomedical progress,” he continued, “about the roles of serendipity and planning, of pure curiosity and practical application, of hypothesis-free and hypothesis-driven science, of individuals and teams, and of fresh perspectives and deep expertise.”

Indeed.

Time-Lapse Revealing the Intricacies of Different Release Mechanisms of Various Pills.

Vantablack is a substance made of carbon nanotubules, and is the blackest substance ever created. It absorbs approximately 99.965% of visible light that hits it. When a photon strikes the material, instead of bouncing off of it (like most other surfaces), it becomes trapped in the nanotubules, continually deflecting from tube to tube before eventually becoming heat.

How CRISPR works? The Future of Genetic Engineering