biology
Evolution is not a belief system. It's not a philosophy, a worldview, or something you accept or reject based on personal preference. It's an algorithm — a process with defined inputs that produces predictable outputs when run long enough. The inputs are variation (individuals differ), inheritance (traits
biology
You have 37 trillion cells. Every bacterium, virus, fungus, and parasite in your environment would love to use those cells as raw materials. The only reason they don't is that you have a defense network so sophisticated it can distinguish your own cells from foreign invaders, remember threats
biology
You have 37 trillion cells. Every bacterium, virus, fungus, and parasite in your environment would love to use those cells as raw materials. The only reason they don't is that you have a defense network so sophisticated it can distinguish your own cells from foreign invaders, remember threats
biology
You've heard the word "metabolism" used to explain why your friend can eat a whole pizza and stay thin. That's not what metabolism is. Metabolism is the sum total of every chemical reaction happening in your body — thousands per second, in every cell, every
biology
You've heard the word "metabolism" used to explain why your friend can eat a whole pizza and stay thin. That's not what metabolism is. Metabolism is the sum total of every chemical reaction happening in your body — thousands per second, in every cell, every
biology
DNA is not a thing. It's a message. It's 3.2 billion letters long, written in a four-letter alphabet, and it contains the instructions for building and operating a human being. Every cell in your body carries a complete copy. If you printed it out in
biology
DNA is not a thing. It's a message. It's 3.2 billion letters long, written in a four-letter alphabet, and it contains the instructions for building and operating a human being. Every cell in your body carries a complete copy. If you printed it out in
biology
There's a line in nature where chemistry stops and biology starts. That line is the cell. A water molecule isn't alive. A strand of DNA by itself isn't alive. But wrap some molecules in a membrane, give them the ability to take in energy,
biology
There's a line in nature where chemistry stops and biology starts. That line is the cell. A water molecule isn't alive. A strand of DNA by itself isn't alive. But wrap some molecules in a membrane, give them the ability to take in energy,
biology
You think of yourself as one person. One body. One organism with a name and a face and a Spotify account. That's a useful fiction, but it's not what's actually happening. What's actually happening is that 37 trillion cells are coordinating so
biology
You think of yourself as one person. One body. One organism with a name and a face and a Spotify account. That's a useful fiction, but it's not what's actually happening. What's actually happening is that 37 trillion cells are coordinating so
physics
We started this series with a ball sitting at the top of a hill and a simple question: why does anything move? Ten articles later, we've traveled from Newton's laws to quantum mechanics, from energy conservation to the curvature of spacetime, from the four fundamental forces