The Works in Progress Newsletter
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The three-thousand-year journey of colchicine
The three-thousand-year journey of colchicine
For centuries it was a poison. Then colchicine rewrote treatment for gout, heart disease, and later, the debate over drug exclusivity.
www.worksinprogress.news
November 20, 2025 at 1:20 PM
The three-thousand-year journey of colchicine
Inventing the dishwasher
Inventing the dishwasher
The amount of housework a married American woman did fell by 48 percent in 45 years. The dishwasher alone didn't cause this, but it certainly helped.
www.worksinprogress.news
November 14, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Inventing the dishwasher
Why the developing world needs wider streets
Why the developing world needs wider streets
Roads are the arteries of cities, making the whole more than the sum of its parts. Cities of the developing world need more of them.
www.worksinprogress.news
November 12, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Why the developing world needs wider streets
More articles we would like to commission
More articles we would like to commission
Write for us
www.worksinprogress.news
November 7, 2025 at 6:15 PM
More articles we would like to commission
The economics of the baby bust
The economics of the baby bust
We talk with Jesús Fernández-Villaverde on the latest episode of the Works in Progress podcast.
www.worksinprogress.news
November 6, 2025 at 2:05 PM
The economics of the baby bust
Evolution under a microscope
Evolution under a microscope
www.worksinprogress.news
November 5, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Evolution under a microscope
Readers from Canada, Australia and the EU can now subscribe to Works in Progress
Readers from Canada, Australia and the EU can now subscribe to Works in Progress
www.worksinprogress.news
November 4, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Readers from Canada, Australia and the EU can now subscribe to Works in Progress
Will AI solve medicine?
Will AI solve medicine?
Some say AI will solve medicine within a decade. Others believe biology is far more complex than people imagine and AI will hit the limits of clinical trials and economics. Who's right?
www.worksinprogress.news
October 29, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Will AI solve medicine?
Treating cost disease with Congressman Jake Auchincloss
Treating cost disease with Congressman Jake Auchincloss
Episode eight of the Works in Progress podcast is about the politics of the Abundance movement
www.worksinprogress.news
October 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Treating cost disease with Congressman Jake Auchincloss
Why science needs outsiders
Why science needs outsiders
The greatest breakthroughs often come from outsiders who can take a fresh perspective
www.worksinprogress.news
October 22, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Why science needs outsiders
The art of protein design with AI
The art of protein design with AI
Watch now | Scientists are using AI to hallucinate entirely novel proteins that could transform medicine, agriculture, and materials science
www.worksinprogress.news
October 15, 2025 at 3:05 PM
The art of protein design with AI
What makes Joel Mokyr great
What makes Joel Mokyr great
www.worksinprogress.news
October 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
What makes Joel Mokyr great
Chinese dams hold billions of people to ransom
Chinese dams hold billions of people to ransom
Could desalination make them irrelevant?
www.worksinprogress.news
October 9, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Chinese dams hold billions of people to ransom
What's new in biology: October 2025
What's new in biology: October 2025
Safer transplants, new antibiotics, the rise of paper mills, long-term flu protection, slowing down ageing, and more.
www.worksinprogress.news
October 2, 2025 at 5:11 PM
What's new in biology: October 2025
Hacking proteins with AI
Hacking proteins with AI
Episode four of Hard Drugs is about building new proteins
www.worksinprogress.news
October 1, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Hacking proteins with AI
The antibody factory
The antibody factory
If antibodies were cheaper, they could prevent millions of deaths from rabies, malaria, and dengue.
www.worksinprogress.news
October 1, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The antibody factory
How traffic modernism ruined cities with Nicholas Boys Smith
How traffic modernism ruined cities with Nicholas Boys Smith
Episode seven of the Works in Progress podcast is about urban design
www.worksinprogress.news
September 26, 2025 at 1:15 PM
How traffic modernism ruined cities with Nicholas Boys Smith
Why AI isn't replacing radiologists
Why AI isn't replacing radiologists
Radiology combines digital images, clear benchmarks, and repeatable tasks. But demand for human radiologists is ay an all-time high.
www.worksinprogress.news
September 25, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Why AI isn't replacing radiologists
How to clean the air
How to clean the air
Germicidal ultraviolet could make airborne disease as rare as those carried by water.
www.worksinprogress.news
September 22, 2025 at 12:05 PM
How to clean the air
Issue 20: The death rays that guard life
Issue 20: The death rays that guard life
Plus: How to make antibodies, why rivers are now battlefields, and a clinical trial for cooling the plant
www.worksinprogress.news
September 18, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Issue 20: The death rays that guard life
Works in Progress is now in print. Subscribe today
Works in Progress is now in print. Subscribe today
A magazine worthy of our readers
www.worksinprogress.news
September 17, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Works in Progress is now in print. Subscribe today
100 years of insulin in 15 minutes
100 years of insulin in 15 minutes
Episode three of Hard Drugs is about how our need to produce insulin kickstarted the modern biotech industry
www.worksinprogress.news
September 16, 2025 at 5:50 PM
100 years of insulin in 15 minutes
What’s new in biology: September 2025
What’s new in biology: September 2025
Gene therapy, narcolepsy drugs, parasite removal, protein nanoparticles, the 3D structure of genomes, and more.
www.worksinprogress.news
September 16, 2025 at 11:40 AM
What’s new in biology: September 2025
How market design can feed the poor
How market design can feed the poor
America's largest non-profit had a broken distribution system. University of Chicago economists fixed it.
www.worksinprogress.news
September 15, 2025 at 12:20 PM
How market design can feed the poor
Magical systems thinking
Magical systems thinking
www.worksinprogress.news
September 12, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Magical systems thinking