Carl Zimmer's Blog, page 126

Eye of Newt, Oil of Meteorite [Science Tattoo Emporium]

From Rob Wesel, meteorite-lover and -purveyor.

For some time I have wanted to get a tattoo to depict my appreciation for meteorites.



On September 28, 1969 meteorites fell in Murchison, Australia.

On September 28, 2004 our daughter Christina (a.k.a. Pinky) was born.

As if wasn’t already a top-fiver for it’s amino acids, Murchison quickly moved up the ranks of my favorite meteorites and I had decided it would somehow be involved in the meteorite tattoo.

With a little help from friends Steve Arnold (I

First Look at Microcosm Paperback

Microcosm will be coming out in paperback in July, but the new cover is already posted online. I like the design very much, although I must admit I’m crossing my fingers that in a couple weeks we’ll need to make a last-minute change…

A Promise Is A Promise…

I don’t usually pass on press releases, but this one, I think you’ll agree, is unique…

Traffic to DISCOVERmagazine.com set a new record in March 2009, drawing 1.7 million unique visitors, more than three times the traffic for March 2008.

CEO and Publisher Henry Donahue and popular Bad Astronomy blogger Phil Plait—whose blog garnered 2 million page views in March—made a promise last year (when traffic was one-third what it is now) that they would both get science tattoos if the site’s traffic reac

I Hear My Bacteria Talking

In Microcosm, I write about how E. coli communicate with each other (and can eavesdrop on us). Here’s a great talk by Bonnie Bassler from Princeton on her pioneering work on microbial conversations, and why they’re so important to the rest of life on Earth.

Correction

In several posts in my series on George Will’s misleading claims about global warming in the Washington Post, I have referred to the “Arctic Climate Research Center” at the University of Illinois. It has been brought to my attention that no such center actually exists. Instead, there is a group of scientists at the University of Illinois who conduct research on climate in the Arctic (one of whom, Bill Chapman, I interviewed as part of my research).

The phrase “Arctic Climate Research Center” is a

Bonobo Outbreak Update

It looks like the outbreak among the bonobos I blogged about last week is over. From an update from Vanessa Woods:

…the flu is over. Semendwa’s baby died, making it 7 bonobos that we’ve lost in the last month, 4 definitely from the flu, maybe 5.

I want to take the time to thank everyone who donated. we raised over $8,000 which will all go to bonobo food and medicine. We still have a $25,000 shortfall for bonobo food which we will try to make by the end of the year. I’ll make sure Sheryl thanks eve

How To Make A Hand

For its first four weeks, a human embryo looks like a crumpled tube. But around its twenty-seventh day of development, four buds bulge from its sides. Over the next few days, the buds grow like tulips, stretching out into flattened stalks and blooming into crowns of fingers and toes. Inside these developing limbs, bones condense. Muscle cells, tendons, blood vessels and nerves all find their respective places. The embryo now has hands with thumbs to suck, legs ready to deliver a kick.

That’s the

Just Follow The Light…[Science Tattoo Emporium]

John writes, “I got it because I’m studying Marine sciences with a Bio minor at Coastal Carolina University, In my junior year and things are starting to get tough. I tend to not finish things I start. This is my motivation to persist and to succeed.”

For more on the humpback anglerfish (Melanocetus johnsonii), see here.

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.

DNA in the Mail and the Future of Life

Over on bloggingheads, I talk with Rob Carlson, one of the most perceptive thinkers around when it comes to pondering where biotechnology is headed. Until his new book comes out in the fall, this will have to tide us over….

Evolution In Two Minutes: You Make The Movie

Check out the new contest from Discover…