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Yasemin Saplakoglu

Yasemin Saplakoglu

Staff Writer

Colorized transmission electron micrograph of a polyribosome.
origins of life

Life’s First Peptides May Have Grown on RNA Strands

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
May 24, 2022
Read Later

RNA and peptides coevolving in the primordial world might have jointly served as a precursor to the modern ribosome.

Illustration of a wooly mammoth with its hind quarters still being assembled from digital blocks.
explainers

Why ‘De-Extinction’ Is Impossible (But Could Work Anyway)

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
May 9, 2022
Read Later

Several projects are aiming to bring back mammoths and other species that have vanished from the planet. Whether that’s technically possible is beside the point.

Illustration of a network of self-replicating RNA molecules evolving and getting more complex.
origins of life

In Test Tubes, RNA Molecules Evolve Into a Tiny Ecosystem

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
May 5, 2022
Read Later

When researchers gave a genetic molecule the ability to replicate, it evolved over time into a complex network of “hosts” and “parasites” that both competed and cooperated to survive.

Illustration that combines elements of three- and four-leaf clovers with the letter for nucleotides in codons.
synthetic biology

Life With Longer Genetic Codes Seems Possible — but Less Likely

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
April 11, 2022
Read Later

Life could use a more expansive genetic code in theory, but new work shows that improving on three-letter codons would be a challenge.

Simulated microscopy image of light shining through mitochondrial bundles and emerging as tight beams.
biophysics

Mitochondria Double as Tiny Lenses in the Eye

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
April 5, 2022
Read Later

The optical properties of mitochondrial bundles in the retina may improve how efficiently the eye captures light.

An illustration of a polyglycine molecule among the constellations.
origins of life

Peptides on Stardust May Have Provided a Shortcut to Life

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
March 8, 2022
Read Later

The discovery that short peptides can form spontaneously on cosmic dust hints at more of a role for them in the earliest stages of life’s origin, on Earth or elsewhere.

Photo of genetically engineered zebra fish larva with fluorescent markings in its brain.
memory

Scientists Watch a Memory Form in a Living Brain

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
March 3, 2022
Read Later

While watching a fearful memory take shape in the brain of a living fish, neuroscientists see an unexpected level of rewiring occur in the synaptic connections.

computational biology

Most Complete Simulation of a Cell Probes Life’s Hidden Rules

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
February 24, 2022
Read Later

A 3D digital model of a “minimal cell” leads scientists closer to understanding the barest requirements for life.

About the author

Yasemin is a staff writer covering biology for Quanta Magazine. Previously, she reported for three years on a wide range of fields for Live Science, with extensive coverage of neuroscience, health and COVID-19. She has also written for Scientific American and the San Jose Mercury News. She holds an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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