Content
Bio
- Bioenergetic Constraints on the Evolution of Complex Life by Nick Lane
- Interesting Manifold market that comes from this: Will “mitochondrial endosymbiosis” be considered the great filter in the fermi paradox by 2050? I.e. could mitrochondrial endosymbiosis (rare evolutionary event) be the dominant explanation for why we haven’t encountered intelligent alien civilizations? If not, what will the most promising explanation be?
Papers
- Achieving optical transparency in live animals with absorbing molecules (pdf)
- tl;dr dye from Doritos makes tissues transparent! Useful for in vivo imaging
Blogs, essays, and other writing
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Is Progress in Medicine too Slow? - by Ruxandra Teslo
Interesting quote from the blog post above:
The best argument against [all biologists dropping whatever it is they are doing and starting to work on aging] comes from Nobel Prize winner Sydney Brenner’s quip: “Progress in science depends on new techniques, new discoveries and new ideas, probably in that order.” Is is very likely that innovations in the field of longevity will not primarily come from those studying aging per se, but from better tools to manipulate biology (think of CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering tools or AI applied to biology.) For example, one could make the case that our ability to fight COVID was primarily determined by advances in mRNA technology and less so by a more refined understanding of virology.
Extending healthspan interests me, but I’m also drawn to tools development: working on delivery systems with applications beyond aging biology. I’ve been taking classes on drug delivery and work in CRISPR delivery lab, and I’m really enjoying it. I’m interested in exploring how this field (delivery) could contribute to longevity research.
Tools
- NotebookLM from Google labs - turns papers into AI-generated podcasts!