science

In 2010, Craig Venter's team announced they had created the first synthetic cell. They had chemically synthesized an entire bacterial genome—over a million base pairs—assembled it piece by piece, and transplanted it into a cell whose original genome had been removed. The synthetic genome booted up.

Let's pull it together. We've traced synthetic biology from its foundations—the engineering mindset, standardized parts, design-build-test-learn—through its applications: minimal genomes, directed evolution, xenobots, DNA storage, genetic circuits, living materials. What emerges is a discipline, still young but maturing, that treats life as technology. Not

Concrete cracks. It's one of the most ubiquitous construction materials on Earth, and it always cracks—from thermal expansion, settling, loading, age. Once cracked, water seeps in, corrodes the steel reinforcement, and the structure degrades. Maintenance is perpetual. What if the concrete could heal itself? In 2006, researchers

In 2000, two papers published in the same issue of Nature launched a new field. One described a "toggle switch"—a genetic circuit with two stable states, like a light switch that stays on or off. The other described a "repressilator"—a circuit that oscillates rhythmically,

Series: Microbiome Revolution | Part: 3 of 8 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: fecal microbiota transplant, FMT, C. diff, Clostridioides difficile, microbiome, poop transplant In 2013, a study was stopped early. This almost never happens in medicine, and when it does, it's usually because the treatment is killing people.

Series: Microbiome Revolution | Part: 2 of 8 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: gut-brain axis, vagus nerve, enteric nervous system, serotonin, microbiome, mental health In 2004, a team of Japanese researchers did something that would have seemed absurd to any neuroscientist a decade earlier. They were trying to understand anxiety—not