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Section 06 of 09 8 essays · Spring 2026

Genetics.

Genomics, gene editing, CRISPR, heritability, and beyond.

Section editor
Dr. Adaeze Williams
We can finally read what we used to guess at. Genomes, edits, ancestry, and the politics of the alphabet our cells were already using.
More in Genetics
02
May 26, 2026 · 8 min read

Sapolsky's Synthesis: Behavior at Every Time Scale

A one-essay synthesis of Robert Sapolsky's Human Behavioral Biology lectures, framed for the genetically curious. What heritability actuall…

03
May 27, 2026 · 10 min read

AlphaFold: How AI Solved Biology's 50-Year Grand Challenge

In 2020, DeepMind's AlphaFold predicted protein structures with atomic-level accuracy — solving a problem that had defeated structural biol…

04
May 26, 2026 · 4 min read

DNA: The Double Helix — Structure, Base Pairing, and Replication

Inside every cell sits two metres of DNA coiled into a space six micrometres across. How the double helix works, why complementary base pai…

05
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

RNA, Transcription, and Translation: How DNA Instructions Become Proteins

DNA stores the instructions but never leaves the nucleus. RNA carries the working copy. How transcription turns a gene into messenger RNA, …

06
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Chromosomes: How Two Metres of DNA Fits Inside a Cell — and Why the Packaging Matters

Chromosomes are not merely storage — the way DNA is packaged controls which genes are active. Five levels of compaction from double helix t…

07
May 26, 2026 · 4 min read

Alleles and Inheritance: Mendel, Dominant and Recessive, and Why Traits Skip Generations

Before DNA was discovered, Gregor Mendel deduced the rules of inheritance from pea counts. What alleles are, why some are dominant and othe…

08
May 26, 2026 · 5 min read

Sex Chromosomes: Why Sons Get Y from Father and X from Mother — and What That Means

Sex is determined at fertilisation by a single genetic difference: whether the fertilising sperm carries an X or a Y. Every egg carries X —…

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