In the after-hours of his PhD, Bingxu kept chasing ideas that could never fit into a thesis. He only later learned — from Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher, and before them François Jacob — that this has a name: night science, the speculative, half-formed work that comes before any result. He plans to continue this tradition in his own group.
How do new organelles arise over the course of evolution — and can we design them from scratch? The cytotoxic granule is our guiding example: a purpose-built compartment for delivering lethal cargo, and a template for organelles that don't yet exist.
How do new organs emerge over evolution — and can we design them? The placenta is a striking example: an organ invented relatively recently in evolutionary time, built fresh for a new biological problem.
Inspired by a conversation with Anshuman Swain.
These are invitations, not conclusions. If one of them keeps you up at night too, that's exactly the point — come argue with us.