Carl Zimmer's Blog, page 125

Interview with The Reef Tank

The folks at The Reef Tank interviewed me about my writing–in particular, about my writing on the creatures of the deep. Check it out.

More on Global Warming and Habitat Destruction

Last week I wrote about a piece in Slate in which Brendan Borrell argued that concerns over the threat to biodiversity from global warming is overshadowing the bigger threat from habitat destruction. Brendan is back from a trip to South Africa and has left a lengthy–and well-considered–comment below. Definitely check it out. I still have some problems with his argument, but it’s so much more satisfying to discuss these issues with somebody who takes the scientific research seriously than someone

LA Packs The House For Science

I went to the Los Angeles Book Festival this weekend and was very impressed. Bibliophiles swarmed over the UCLA campus like literary army ants, and it seemed like every event of the day was packed. That included the panel discussion I was in, about science. My co-panelists were Avery Gilbert, a fellow finalist for the LA Times Science Book Prize, and Leonard Susskind, who won for his book on black holes. KC Cole, our moderator, managed to keep this herd of cats on the straight and narrow by havi

I am Shiva, The Physics Teacher Of Worlds [Science Tattoos]

 

Alison, a high-school physics teacher, writes:

Like many scientists, the wonder of the natural laws of the Universe is where I draw my spiritual inspiration. I also study the religions of the world, and have been fascinated by the reoccurring theme of Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. The Mandelbrot Set (top) represents Creation, with the emergent properties of a simple equation that produces such a rich, complex, and unpredictable fractal pattern that goes on into Infinity. The equation

The Loom Goes LA: This Saturday at the Book Festival

Later this week I’m heading out to Los Angeles for the book festival. I’ll be part of a panel Saturday morning at 10:30 on science books, moderated by KC Cole. My fellow panelists, Avery Gilbert and Leonard Susskind, are also among my fellow finalists for the Los Angeles Times Science Book Prize, which will be announced Friday night. So it’s possible that if you come see the panel the next day, one of us will have a particularly big smile on our face.

Choose Your Top Poison

Yesterday I wrote about how conservation biologists are debating the value of moving species to protect them from climate-change-driven extinction. As a follow-up (or an antidote), check out “Blood for no oil: Our obsession with climate change is killing off animals left and right.” in Slate.

Brendan Borrell, biologist turned journalist, argues that climate change poses a genuine threat to biodiversity, but “it does not come close to the immediate, irreparable damage caused by the destruction of

Nature’s Travel Agents?

Two years ago I learned about an idea for saving species from climate-triggered extinction: move them some place nice. Here’s a piece about the concept that I wrote at the time for the New York Times. Over the past two years, more evidence of climate-induced changes to diversity has accrued. And now some scientists have actually moved some animals to test the possibility that assisted migration could help. But the idea has also now triggered some intense opposition from critics who call it a gam

Double Your Brain

My new Discover column about the brain has just been posted. I take a look at that most obvious–and most puzzling–thing about a brain: its two sides. Check your left-brain/right-brain cliches at the door and check it out.

Darwin and the Boundaries of Science

If you’re in Greenwich Village on Friday and have some free time in the afternoon, come by to hear me give a talk during a conference at NYU called “Darwin and the Boundaries of Science.”

Here’s the meeting’s self-description:

The two-day conference will examine how Darwin’s ideas have changed the boundaries of knowledge: between science and religion, between speculation and theory, between the past and the present, and between humans and the world around us. Interdisciplinary in scope, the event

Embedded Parasites

Excellent lecture on parasites from Jim McKerrow, courtesy of FORA.TV. McKerrow helped me out long ago with information and pictures of blood flukes when I was writing Parasite Rex. But he can deliver great tales about all sorts of critters inside you.