Carl Zimmer's Blog, page 114
September 8, 2009
Faust And The Dandelion
[image error]Romantic poetry and developmental biology have something in common: Goethe. One of botany's lesser known pioneers, Goethe actually wrote a visionary essay about plants in 1790, which can be summed up in his motto, "All is leaf." Scientists who are studying the evolution of flowers today hear the echoes of his words. To find out more, check out my lead story in the Science Times section of the New York Times today.
And for more information, check out these recent reviews–
September 7, 2009
Parasites+Radiolab!
Radiolab and parasites. A match made in parasitic heaven. If you haven't discovered this excellent radio program, check out the first episode of their sixth season. During the first 20 minutes of the show, I persuade the hosts of the show, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, that parasites are not degenerate or evil, but rather sophisticated creatures that have a huge influence on humanity and the entire natural world (the basic message in my book, Parasite Rex). The rest of the show delves...
September 5, 2009
Schrodinger's Tat [Science Tattoo]
Berg writes, "I'm a big fan of quantum mechanics (regardless of how little I truly understand it), so getting a tattoo of Schrodinger's cat seemed like a no-brainer. It's on my right forearm, which means it ends up being a good conversation starter after a quick handshake. Either people get what it is right away, or I have the pleasure of explaining 'No, it's not two cats fornicating, it's one superpositioned cat,' which is fun in its own right. Huzzah!"
Robert Wright Speaks…
…about the recent goings-on at Bloggingheads. If you don't want to listen to an hour and 15 minutes of discussion about how a couple of creationists ended up on Wright's site, he has also distilled his comments in writing, here in a discussion forum.
I deeply appreciate all the comments and emails people sent to ask me to reconsider my decision to part ways wit Bloggingheads. But it's not as if I'll be vanishing from sight. In fact, I plan to explore new ways to write and talk about science...
September 3, 2009
Microcosm In Glass
Having written a book about E. coli has made me a keen aficionado of E. coli ties and E. coli plush toys. But a glass sculpture of E. coli? Now that's classy.
This beautiful piece of sculpture is the work of the artist Luke Jerram. Check out his web site for his entire Glass Microbiology project. Swine flu never looked so good.
(Hat tip to Stan Carey)
September 1, 2009
Old Colors: First Birds, Then Dinosaurs?
Quick shake of the head, rub of the eyes, and back to some science.
In today's New York Times, please check out my article about the quest for fossilized color. Birds without color would be like Van Goghs without the paint, and yet for 150 year paleontologists have had to resign themselves to drab fossils of birds, offering little idea of what the birds actually looked like. That's now changed. It turns out that the microscopic bags of pigment that give feathers color (not to mention squid ink co
August 31, 2009
Bloggingheads and the Old Challenges of New Tools
Two years ago I was invited me to participate in a weird but cool experiment. The author Robert Wright had set up an online talk show of sorts called Bloggingheads. Two people with something interesting to say–economists, political scientists, human rights workers, seasoned journalists, and others–would pick a topic. They would talk on the phone while filming themselves and then upload the recordings. Others could then watch them hold forth.
I loved the inventiveness of the format. I loved how a
August 29, 2009
Pictures From A Proud Book Papa
The stork UPS man pitched a box through the front door this morning. Inside was an advance copy of my new book, The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution. The paternal photographer in me took over, and now I have to show off my snaps. Above is a picture that I like for two reasons. One is the way it shows off Carl Buell's lovely (and crowd-critiqued) cover. The other is the way it illustrates the book's far-less-than-a-doorstop mass, which is all too typical for textbooks these days. In fac
August 28, 2009
End of the Week: Radio news and web site restored
It has been a week of crazy writing–four pieces ranging from short to way too long. Hence little blogging. I apologize. I will reform. I will honor the blogger's code. Monday.
In the meantime, two bits of news.
1. Radio: I will be on Coast to Coast AM at 10 pm Saturday PST/ 1 am EST to talk about bedbugs. We are in the midst of a bedbug Renaissance, and I intend to be its Dante. Details to come here.
In more radio news, I was just on New Hampshire Public Radio talking about global-warming-driven ev
August 24, 2009
carlzimmer.com: It's up. No, it's down. It's up again. No, it's really down.
Just a technical note, with shades of exasperation: After my web site got hacked earlier a couple months back, I changed ISP's and spent a lot of time bringing it up to date. Now I've discovered that it's not working again, because of some mysterious error. I'm getting help with it, but it may take a few days for everything to get back in place.
