Niko McCarty

TL;DR: $10,000 in prizes for ideas on how to speed up wet-lab experiments. Prizes will be given for ideas that are highly original and technically tractable. A few paragraphs will suffice. Please send… Read more: Fast Biology Bounties

The world needs more essays about biology. So last month, I tweeted a link to one of my favorite essays (#1 below) and promised that I would continue to share… Read more: 30 Great Essays About Biology

I. For centuries, physicians have noticed an unsettling pattern: a string of young boys who seem doomed to bleed. Every scrape or cut on their bodies oozed blood long after… Read more: A Christmas Story

Arithmetic is a superpower. Or, as Dynomight has written, a “world-modeling technology.” It is one of the first things we learn in school, and yet few seem to use it in… Read more: How to Calculate BioNumbers

In 2011, while working in Brazil, Max Roser began formulating the idea for Our World in Data. He initially planned to publish “data and research on global change,” possibly as a… Read more: We Need Biotech Data

The hydrogen atom revolutionized physics. Throughout the 20th century, physicists used this atom to develop a quantum theory of matter. By using the same atom from one experiment to the… Read more: Biotech Needs a Hydrogen Atom

Arc Institute researchers recently published a preprint showing that their gene-editing technology, called Bridge recombinases, work in human cells. Many people applauded the paper on social media, while others asked, “Wait, how… Read more: The Case for Bridge Editors

The first mouse emulation appeared in 2032; a rodent’s entire anatomy, and all of its cells—including the brain—perfectly recapitulated using computer hardware. In those early days, only a few organizations… Read more: C57Bl6/J

Introduction In the days before DNA sequencing, high-powered microscopes, and molecular biology textbooks, decoding the finer workings of a living cell often required arduous experiments and clever speculation. ‍The history… Read more: Central Dogma in 7 Experiments

When people think of “biotech” — myself included — they tend to picture GLP-1s and gene therapies. But biotech is much broader than just medicine; it’s also pushing forward a… Read more: Think of the Eggs

Many decades before the discovery of x-rays and the invention of powerful microscopes, Lord Rayleigh calculated the size of a single molecule. And he did it, remarkably, using little more… Read more: Estimating the Size of a Single Molecule

There’s a new paper out in PNAS that hints at some intriguing synthetic biology applications. Researchers at the University of Rochester introduced a sea sponge gene into Escherichia coli, giving the bacteria a… Read more: Microbial Lenses

I. Molecular Burden Biochemistry textbooks often depict cells as spacious places, where molecules float in secluded harmony. But cells are dense and crowded; a bit like molecular burritos, according to Michael… Read more: How to Minimize Cell Burden

Good writers should not fear AI. Many types of writing that people enjoy reading cannot easily be replicated by machines. Also, writing is a good way to think and you… Read more: Writing Moats

One reason David Goodsell’s paintings attract biologists, I think, is because they are unapologetically realistic. His paintings depict seas of macromolecules splayed out in pastel shades. A Goodsell painting looks… Read more: The Most Abundant Protein

Emails are underrated. Many people view them as purely functional — as just another part of the job. But they can be much more than that. Emails are a useful… Read more: The Art of Emails

It’s generally a bad idea to write a book. First, it takes time away from other things you could be writing. And second, it freezes your ideas in time, such that you… Read more: Underrated Science Books

Asimov Press, the publishing company that I run with Xander Balwit, has only been around for about a year. I really love the job because it lets me work with… Read more: What I Learned in 2024

This essay originally appeared on the Asimov blog. Many complex problems are caused by molecular imbalances. Type I diabetes is caused by a lack of insulin; obesity in part by a… Read more: Why Engineer Biology?

In the summer of 1946, shortly after the close of World War II, George Orwell published a short essay entitled “Why I Write.” He had already released Coming Up for Air, Keep… Read more: Why I Write

Many writers have published advice about how to write better, myself included. But I recently went looking for advice about how to find writing ideas, and noticed a dearth of such essays… Read more: How to Find Writing Ideas

A few months ago, I saw some claims online that tardigrades—also called water bears—can survive for up to 30 years without food or water. Naturally, I was curious about the… Read more: Tardigrades Can Live for 30 Years

Students of biology take much more granted. Seemingly simple ideas — like how DNA is the genetic material, or how a protein folds according to the order of its amino… Read more: Underrated Origins of the Protein Folding Problem

There’s a recent blog from OpenAI where they used GPT-5 to optimize a common biology experiment, called Gibson Assembly. I’ve seen criticisms online from people who say things like, “Who cares? A… Read more: This OpenAI Wet-Lab Blog is Pretty Good

A new paper in Nature shows that enzymes can be made by mixing just four molecules together, none of which are amino acids. The four molecules randomly link together to form long… Read more: Enzymes from Random Molecules

There’s a YouTube channel I like called Brick Technology. The videos are simple: a machine made from LEGOs must conquer an obstacle, like a wall, moat, or soapy ramp. When the… Read more: Brick Technology Addictions

I moved to the Bay Area to join Astera Institute as an independent fellow.

There is a microbe, discovered in 1958 on Sapelo Island in Georgia, that divides every 10 minutes. This is the fastest division time ever observed in any bacterial species, and it belongs… Read more: Why Vibrio Never Caught On