Grow Magazine
Ginkgo Bioworks (2020)
This magazine by Ginkgo Bioworks tells unfolding stories in synthetic biology.
The Beauty Issue
Beauty is often considered a superficial quality, but it has tremendous power over us. An expression of our ever-evolving and surprising diversity, beauty can inspire great joy and creativity, but it can also become a tool of oppression. In Grow’s second print issue, we explore biology’s most mysterious trick in all its facets.
How did beauty evolve? How do animals experience it, and how does their gaze differ from ours? What does natural beauty mean in our increasingly abstract world? How do aesthetic standards perpetuate ableist and racist ideas, and what can we do to end that cycle? Will synthetic biology become part of the problem, or can it be part of the solution, helping us reimagine the tools that shape how we see the world? This is not your typical beauty magazine. Featuring essays, conversations, and artistic works, this 80-page publication offers a glimpse into a world of beauty without boundaries.
