Nobel Gene

Ontological Inadequacies Of The Word Gene

Evelyn Fox Keller | Engelsberg Ideas | 13th June 2022

Understanding of the human genome has advanced rapidly. Within the lab, terms like "gene" are used narrowly and precisely, but in the wider world ambiguities creep in. A system of categorisation that focuses on entities rather than processes can never convey the secrets of biological development. "Evolution might be described as a machine that transforms function into structure" (1,627 words)

Nobel Endeavours

The Fence | 1st June 2022

Nobel Prize winners answer questions. The best answers are about the parts of their own field they don't understand. A chemistry winner "couldn’t understand theoretical chemistry if my life depended on it" and an economics one is confused by "regression to the mean". Best of all is this about black holes, from a physics winner: "Why do black holes exist? Is it just because they can exist?" (1,521 words)

When even great minds have black holes
In the things that they know, do not scroll
Without aim! Let us find
Reads to fill up your mind
As the best of the net we extol.