Carl Zimmer's Blog, page 106

Saving Tasmanian Devil's From A New Form of Life–Themselves

Tasmanian devils have given rise to a weird new quasi-form of life: a cancer that spreads from animal to animal like a parasite. In tomorrow's New York Times, I report on the latest analysis of devil's facial tumour disease, published in this week's Science. Scientists have now tracked down the cancer to its progenitor: nerve cells known as Schwann cells.

Now scientists can use this evolutionary history to design diagnostic tests for the cancer and perhaps even vaccines. Let's hope they...

Even Nightmares Can Be Beautiful

What's with all the tongue-eating parasites popping up these days?

At least this one is pretty. (As it should be, given that it's the winner of the symbiosis-and-parasitism photo contest over at WetPixel.)

Best Wishes For The New Year, From This Brain To Yours

A healthy brain, with white matter tracts visualized with diffusion tensor imaging. Source.

The Encyclopedia of Microbes

In tomorrow's New York Times, I have an article about the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea, a new database that's designed to span the vast diversity of our planet's microbes. Check it out!

Image: Flickr

/tæˈtu/

"My name is Steve Kleinedler, supervising editor for the American Heritage Dictionary, where I have worked since 1997. One of my many responsibilities is pronunciation. The tattoo is a stylized version of a phonetic vowel chart — it shows the relative position of the tongue in the mouth when those vowel sounds are articulated. I had a smaller, simpler version done on my upper back in 1993, and I've been wanting to get the full version for quite some time.

"The design is by Kyle Nelson of...

DNA Ancestry Bleg

So the wife and I are ready to investigate our distant past and discover all sorts of unsettling things about our ancestors. Anyone care to recommend any particular genealogical DNA testing outfit? I know of the Genographic Project and a few others, but I don't know how full or accurate a profile they offer.

The Protein Universe

How does a scientist study a million genes? In my latest podcast I talk to John Wooley, a leading figure in the new science of metagenomics. Check it out.

The Year in Bugs

Photographer Alex Wild picks his favorite images of insects from the year. Bugilicious.

Kinkiness Beyond Kinky

There comes a time in every science writer's career when one must write about glass duck vaginas and explosive duck penises.

That time is now.

To err on the side of caution, I am stuffing the rest of this post below the fold. My tale is rich with deep scientific significance, resplendent with surprising insights into how evolution works, far beyond the banalities of "survival of the fittest," off in a realm of life where sexual selection and sexual conflict work like a pair sculptors drunk on a...

The Mighty Power of Blogosaurus?

Over the past few days, I've been following a tale of paleontological woe with a surprisingly happy ending.

Matt Wedel, a paleontologist, has been blogging about his experience with a television show on the Discovery Channel called Clash of the Dinosaurs. It didn't go well. The producers edited Wedel's interviews to turn his words around 180 degrees. For example, remember that old notion of big dinosaurs having a second brain along their spinal column? Not true! Wedel explained this, but if...