CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-23 19:32:26 (6 comments, 25 reshares, 45 +1s)

The June issue of the Atlantic has my first feature for them: a look at a rare disease that makes people grow a second skeleton, the people who endure the condition, and the scientists who may have finally figured it out. It's a long read, but, I hope, worth your time.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/06/the-mystery-of-the-second-skeleton/309305/

2013-05-23 16:05:29 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 11 +1s)

My new "Matter" column for the New York Times just went online. It's a 4.6 billion-year-history of chlorine. We may enjoy it in our swimming pools this summer, but on the early Earth, it made the oceans almost uninhabitable. Only after most of the Earth's chlorine disappeared, some scientists argue, was it possible for complex life like us to evolve.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/science/chlorine-swimming-pool-helper-has-a-checkered-past.html?ref=science

2013-05-23 14:22:41 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

New on the Loom: Another link between dog brains and human brains--thanks to a gene that's involved in autism.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/23/another-link-between-dog-brains-and-our-brains/

2013-05-22 17:17:10 (5 comments, 15 reshares, 37 +1s)

You're home to vast numbers of bacteria and viruses. But don't forget the hundreds of species of fungi! At the Loom, I take a look at our inner mushroom.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/22/getting-to-know-your-inner-mushroom/

2013-05-20 19:03:45 (2 comments, 25 reshares, 50 +1s)

You are home to many trillions of viruses, most of which infect the bacteria that live inside you. According to a new study, they may actually be your symbiotic partners, creating a defensive wall to keep bacteria from killing you. Think of them as your second immune system. Details at the Loom.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/20/meet-your-new-symbionts-several-trillion-viruses/

2013-05-17 16:46:26 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

New on the Loom: A tale of poison and mediocre evolution in our own time. http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/17/mediocre-poison-eaters-and-the-imperfection-of-evolution/

2013-05-16 12:19:01 (0 comments, 10 reshares, 32 +1s)

For my new Matter column for the New York Times, I look at new studies of dog genes, and the clues they reveal about the evolution of dog brains. Turns out, we were evolving in parallel with them. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/science/dogs-from-fearsome-predator-to-mans-best-friend.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

2013-05-14 18:51:18 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 16 +1s)

Angelina Jolie's news of a preventive double mastectomy to deal with her BRCA1 mutation has brought this troublesome gene into the spotlight today. On the Loom, I write about its natural history, and its twin paradoxes: it's strangely common and strangely rare.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/14/tracing-breast-cancers-history/

2013-05-10 20:45:02 (3 comments, 19 reshares, 40 +1s)

New on the Loom: The Lurker--How A Virus Hid In Our Genome For Six Million Years. 

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/10/the-lurker-how-a-virus-hid-in-our-genome-for-six-million-years/

2013-05-09 14:14:54 (13 comments, 4 reshares, 53 +1s)

Today is my first day as a columnist for the Science Times at the New York Times. I will be writing each Thursday about some aspects of the world. Today: the ancient history behind the cicada invasion http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/science/marvels-and-a-few-mysteries-in-cicadas-17-years.html?ref=science

2013-05-08 22:13:45 (0 comments, 7 reshares, 12 +1s)

We have an inner and outer world. So do snails. Here's a new post on the ancient origins of our nervous systems.  http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/08/how-our-outside-world-turned-inward/

2013-05-07 22:37:00 (6 comments, 9 reshares, 30 +1s)

Oh, so you're descended from Charlemagne? Eh. So is every other European. More details in my new blog post on how genetics reveals weird things about genealogy.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/07/charlemagnes-dna-and-our-universal-royalty/

2013-05-02 23:21:30 (20 comments, 56 reshares, 129 +1s)

TED-Ed (TED's education wing) asked me to talk about the evolution of birds. Here's the lovely animation that came out of that.

How did feathers evolve? - Carl Zimmer

2013-05-02 02:19:14 (3 comments, 7 reshares, 22 +1s)

At the Loom I look at the evolution of pregnancy, and how evolution may explain some of its greatest risks.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/01/what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting-by-charles-darwin/

2013-04-30 13:19:06 (7 comments, 12 reshares, 26 +1s)

Outside Magazine asked me if I'd like to write a feature about ticks. I said, Where have you been all my life?

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/science/Feeding-Frenzy.html?page=all

2013-04-29 19:15:37 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

Life in New York is evolving. At the Loom, I write about a new study on natural selection in Central Park.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/29/the-evolution-of-the-country-mouse-and-the-city-mouse/

2013-04-29 02:59:59 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 17 +1s)

This week in the New York Times, I wrote about dogs, and how Big Data may change the way we think about them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/science/enlisting-a-virtual-pack-to-study-dog-minds.html?pagewanted=all

2013-04-25 17:51:44 (16 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

Here's the video of my Google Hangout to talk about coelacanth. I'm curious about doing this kind of talk more, but the logistics are still unfamiliar to me. Viewer feedback welcome!

Coelacanth Chat

2013-04-23 22:59:05 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

An international team of scientists has sequenced the genome of the African coelacanth -- a giant, ancient-looking fish thought to have gone extinct around the time of the dinosaurs but discovered a few decades ago off the coast of Africa. Their research reveals insights into how some vertebrates adapted to life on land, while others remained creatures of the sea. 

Join science writer Carl Zimmer and scientists from the team that sequenced this remarkable fish’s genome as they explore the stories behind the science, discuss the latest discoveries, and answer your questions in a Google Plus Hangout On Air.

2013-04-23 00:03:01 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

An international team of scientists has sequenced the genome of the African coelacanth -- a giant, ancient-looking fish thought to have gone extinct around the time of the dinosaurs but discovered a few decades ago off the coast of Africa. Their research reveals insights into how some vertebrates adapted to life on land, while others remained creatures of the sea. 

Join science writer Carl Zimmer and scientists from the team that sequenced this remarkable fish’s genome as they explore the stories behind the science, discuss the latest discoveries, and answer your questions in a Google Plus Hangout On Air.

2013-04-22 23:31:21 (2 comments, 8 reshares, 16 +1s)

Francois Jacob--war hero, Nobel-prize winning biologist, and lyrical writer--has just died. On the Loom I've posted a short appreciation about Jacob, who uncovered some of the first clues to one of biology's great wonders: how thousands of genes can work together in each of us, to make us us.

2013-04-22 23:25:56 (1 comments, 4 reshares, 6 +1s)

BoingBoing and the Encyclopedia of Life are hosting a fantastic contest called Armchair Taxonomist.

 If you can research and write a short description of a plant, animal, fungus, or bacteria then you have the chance to win awesome prizes ... including a VIP, behind-the-scenes tour of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History!

 http://boingboing.net/2013/04/22/armchairtaxonomist.html

2013-04-18 17:24:25 (8 comments, 4 reshares, 16 +1s)

My new blog post: Why menopause? (It's a question that applies to both humans and aphids.)

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/18/why-menopause/

2013-04-08 15:16:31 (3 comments, 7 reshares, 26 +1s)

Bugs as drugs. My new blog post on turning the microbiome into medicine.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/08/bugs-as-drugs/

2013-04-04 18:35:29 (2 comments, 4 reshares, 23 +1s)

Last month I blogged about a cool experiment in which yeast evolved from single cells to proto-bodies. Now comes a second experiment on yeast that delivers the same result--but by an entirely different path. 

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/04/another-path-for-evolving-bodies/

2013-04-02 14:24:54 (2 comments, 4 reshares, 16 +1s)

Obama just announced $100 million for the "BRAIN Initiative." On the Loom, I take a look at what seems like a very soft launch.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/02/a-new-push-to-explore-the-brain/

2013-04-02 01:51:59 (15 comments, 8 reshares, 51 +1s)

Here's the video of my TEDx talk on de-extinction on YouTube.

2013-03-31 22:54:52 (1 comments, 5 reshares, 17 +1s)

National Public Radio interviewed me about the quest to map the human brain. Here's their piece:

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/31/175858397/somewhere-over-the-brainbow-the-journey-to-map-the-human-brain

2013-03-30 11:56:19 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 19 +1s)

I spoke to a bunch of radio stations this week about my de-extinction story in National Geographic. I'm fairly coherent in this interview with KRCU in Missouri.

2013-03-29 00:41:24 (2 comments, 5 reshares, 17 +1s)

Scientists have achieved an important advance in synthetic biology: they can turn genes into logic gates, opening the way to potentially wiring cells like computers. At Download the Universe, I take a look at a comic book that can help you make sense of what just happened.

http://www.downloadtheuniverse.com/dtu/2013/03/a-comic-book-guide-to-rewiring-life.html

2013-03-29 00:41:18 (9 comments, 7 reshares, 23 +1s)

My +Slate piece on +TIME 's "How To Cure Cancer" headline: Wrong, grandiose, and cruel.  http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/03/how_to_cure_cancer_time_magazine_s_april_1_cover_is_wrong_and_cruel.html

2013-03-25 16:45:54 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 18 +1s)

One of the most interesting features of birds (their crazy sexual anatomy) has become a subject of mockery in some political circles. Here's my explanation of why duck sex matter.

2013-03-24 14:49:16 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

My latest column for +The Boston Globe is about a new initiative in Providence, RI seeking to narrow the "word gap": http://b.globe.com/wordgapbz

2013-03-21 03:23:36 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

Bats and viral chatter: My new post on the Loom on the new coronavirus

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/20/listen-closely-to-the-bats-and-you-can-hear-the-viral-chatter/

2013-03-19 19:06:03 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 7 +1s)

Today on the Loom, I picked out some of the many questions people have been asking about my National Geographic story on de-extinction to answer--from logistics to ethics.

http://t.co/n5xVEhld54

2013-03-17 15:07:57 (5 comments, 13 reshares, 47 +1s)

National Geographic has put my cover story for the April issue online. Mammoths, passenger pigeons, gastric brooding frogs and the prospect of bringing extinct species back to this world.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/species-revival/zimmer-text

2013-03-14 04:46:26 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Later today, Thursday 3/14 2 pm ET, +Ed Yong +Brian Switek +Virginia Hughes and I--the four Phenomena bloggers of National Geographic--will head to Reddit for an "Ask Me Anything" session. Join us!

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/

2013-03-12 18:07:53 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 7 +1s)

On the Loom, I revisit an experiment that revealed the evolution of proto-bodies in real time. They're still evolving!

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/12/watching-bodies-evolve/

2013-03-11 21:36:14 (8 comments, 5 reshares, 18 +1s)

Join me and a bunch of scientists on Friday in Washington DC. We'll be talking about "De-Extinction"--the possibility of using cloning and DNA sequencing to bring some species back from oblivion.

(My vote goes to the Stellar Sea Cow, the 25-foot-manatee cousin eaten to extinction in the 1760s.)

http://tedxdeextinction.org

2013-03-11 17:54:51 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 12 +1s)

On the Loom, I write about scientists trying to resurrect America's chestnut forests, and what that means to our notion of "restoring nature." 

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/11/resurrecting-a-forest/

2013-03-08 16:56:37 (5 comments, 5 reshares, 11 +1s)

Confused about this week's news about "nightmare bacteria"? Here's an explainer I've just written up that I hope will help.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/08/the-nightmare-bacteria-an-explainer/

2013-03-04 15:33:49 (6 comments, 9 reshares, 34 +1s)

The Brain-Chilling, Shrimp-Caressing, Lamppost-Sized, NSFW Organ Hiding In A Whale’s Mouth. New on the Loom.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/04/the-brain-chilling-shrimp-caressing-lamppost-sized-nsfw-organ-hiding-in-a-whales-mouth/

2013-03-03 22:01:13 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 24 +1s)

Just a reminder to G+ folks in Connecticut. I'll be speaking about tattooed scientists at the Peabody Museum at Yale on Thursday, 3/7. It's free. Here's the poster.

2013-02-28 16:03:32 (5 comments, 13 reshares, 27 +1s)

Tongue-eating parasites have an interesting sex life. New at the Loom:  http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/28/tongue-eating-fish-parasites-never-cease-to-amaze/

2013-02-27 18:12:41 (5 comments, 21 reshares, 40 +1s)

A virus with an immune system. Really. New at the Loom: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/27/the-virus-that-learns/

2013-02-26 14:02:05 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

Looking back at a year of science ebooks at Download the Universe... http://www.downloadtheuniverse.com/dtu/2013/02/a-year-of-downloading-the-universe.html

2013-02-25 17:25:50 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

In advance of my tattoo talk at Yale next week, Yale's going to take me hostage to answer your questions. Details here: 

http://yaleuniversity.tumblr.com/post/43990737887/were-thrilled-to-host-popular-science-writer-carl

2013-02-25 15:48:52 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 17 +1s)

New on the Loom: The parasite's fountain of youth. http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/25/the-parasites-fountain-of-youth/ If only we had the stem cells of blood flukes!

2013-02-22 16:06:32 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 16 +1s)

New on the Loom: On the Possible Shapes of the Brain.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/22/on-the-possible-shapes-of-the-brain/

2013-02-20 15:43:17 (4 comments, 10 reshares, 26 +1s)

10000000000000000000000000000000 viruses on Earth? Think more! A lot more, as I explain on the Loom

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/20/an-infinity-of-viruses/