Asimov Press
@AsimovPress
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Asimov Press is a publisher focused on the science and technologies that promote flourishing. Part of @AsimovBio. Supported by @AsteraInstitute and @Stripe.
Cambridge, MA
Joined September 2023
Spotted at a coffee shop in Oslo, Norway! @AsimovPress I wish I could meet whoever left it here 🤓
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Phenylephrine, marketed as a nasal decongestant, was first sold in the U.S. in 1938. In 2007, a formal petition was filed to have it removed based on evidence showing it did not work. The FDA (finally) pulled it until 2024. This is the 90-year saga of an ineffective drug.
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No dev team? No problem. Caffeine turns your ideas into launch-ready apps — just by chatting. Start for free →
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Today marks a major milestone at @AsimovPress: Our two-year anniversary! We formally launched the magazine in December 2023; a tiny team of two operating from inside @AsimovBio. In 2024, we published 49 articles, including a History of the Micropipette, an argument about why
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Also our final article in Issue 08! Written by Michael DePeau-Wilson ( @MedReporterMike ) Read & subscribe:
asimov.press
On the 90-year saga of oral phenylephrine.
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Phenylephrine, marketed as a nasal decongestant, was first sold in the U.S. in 1938. In 2007, a formal petition was filed to have it removed based on evidence showing it did not work. The FDA (finally) pulled it until 2024. This is the 90-year saga of an ineffective drug.
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30 Days of Underrated Ideas (#2) The global egg industry kills about 6 billion male chicks each year, shortly after they hatch. IN OVO SEXING can prevent this entirely ... if it is adopted. For context, there are two types of chickens that get farmed: "Broilers" and "Layers".
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Arabidopsis thaliana, plant biology's ubiquitous model organism, came from the Harz Mountains of northern Germany. It was discovered in 1542 by Johannes Thal and, over the next 500 years, spread through labs around the world. @AlexandraBalwit tells the story in a new essay.🔻
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An E. coli flagellum spins around nearly 20,000 times per minute. It does this by corkscrewing its long tail, thus pushing the cell through its viscous environment. The flagellum is powered by a molecular motor, formed from hundreds of interlocking proteins that self-assemble.
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Every biologist knows the story of Fleming's chance discovery of penicillin. But is it true? Here, I write about inconsistencies in the canonical story, and explore a few alternative theories about what really happened in that St. Mary's lab in the summer of 1928.
Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin is unlikely to have happened in the way he described. It's almost certainly a myth. For decades, scientists and historians have puzzled over inconsistencies in Fleming’s story. The window to Fleming’s lab was rarely (if ever) left
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Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin is unlikely to have happened in the way he described. It's almost certainly a myth. For decades, scientists and historians have puzzled over inconsistencies in Fleming’s story. The window to Fleming’s lab was rarely (if ever) left
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Some weekend reading!
Read Something Wonderful (about Biology) We just released a curated list of 125+ essays about biology and science. These articles cover pharmaceuticals, the history of molecular biology, timeless arguments and theories, and more. Check it out.🔻
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Metaphors help us to understand things that we cannot easily see. They are, for that reason, enormously useful in biology. We recently published a long list of quantitative metaphors to help readers 'grok' the scale of biology, from molecules to organisms. Our favorites: If
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The centrifuge was first invented by two Germans (the Prandtl brothers) and showcased at the 1875 World Exhibition in Frankfurt am Main. Originally designed to help farmers separate butterfat from milk, the device applied the Newtonian law of centrifugal motion to push denser
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New fiction alert: "How to See the Dead." 🚨 A retinal implant designer is asked by a grieving widow to help her see her dead husband again. By @spencer_nit
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New essay: Animalcules and their Motors A recent surge of research is revealing how flagella, the whip-like tails that bacteria use for locomotion, are not all created equal. An E. coli flagellum spins around nearly 20,000 times per minute, whereas the flagellum in a microbe
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A plant biologist in the UK, named @NickDesnoyer, designs new flowers in his spare time. We recently explained his process in an article. Here's an excerpt: Desnoyer thinks of his method as comprising two steps: genetic sculpting and genetic painting. Sculpting, he says, is all
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(From the Archives) Atomic-Scale Protein Filters https://t.co/ED6qb3ubn5
press.asimov.com
How aquaporin and potassium channels filter hundreds of millions of water molecules or ions each second, by positioning the correct amino acid in the perfect place.
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Cells regulate their water levels to ensure molecular concentrations stay in a narrow range. This is done using aquaporins, proteins that let BILLIONS of water molecules pass in or out each second, while excluding protons. Aquaporin is both swift and selective thanks to its
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