A blog about life, past and future
Carl Zimmer is a science writer. His articles appear in the New York Times and many magazines. He is also the author of six books about science. Send messages to blog/ at/ carlzimmer/ dot/ com
NOW ON SALE!
Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life
Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man: The Concise Edition
"As fine a book as one will find on the subject."-- Scientific American
Revised with a new introduction
"Superb...a non-stop delight."-- New Scientist
"Fascinating...thrilling... Zimmer has produced a top-notch work of popular science." --LA Times
"A fascinating story, which Zimmer unfolds as a tale of high-stakes scientific sleuthing...thanks to marvelous lucid writing." --Booklist
Stay abreast of your favorite bloggers' latest and greatest via e-mail, via a daily digest.
"...among the joyous, heartless, ever-juvenile eternities, Pip saw the multitudinous, God-omnipresent, coral insects, that out of the firmament of waters, heaved the colossal orbs. He saw God's foot upon the treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him mad."
--Moby Dick
December 30, 2005
Category: General
Wandering around Amazon.com a couple weeks ago, I discovered that they are letting authors blog. It didn't take long for me to set one up here. But once I had set it up, it occurred to me I wasn't sure...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 12:35 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 28, 2005
Category: Evolution
Why is it that politicians who say they want to strengthen science teaching standards can sound so post-modern about science? Two examples: 1. John McCain grooving with the kids on MTV about evolution: "I see no reason why students should...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 10:03 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 26, 2005
Category: Evolution
If you could travel back to Spain about ten million years ago, you'd have no end of animals to watch, from apes to bear-dogs to saber-tooth tigers. With so many creatures jockeying for your attention (and perhaps chasing you down...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 12:14 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 21, 2005
Category: Evolution
In October I wrote about the latest ideas about the evolution of autumn colors. The paper is now out....
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 11:49 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolution
When Judge John E. Jones III issued his decision in the Dover creationism trial on Tuesday, I downloaded the document with a vague sense of dread. It wasn't just that the decision was 139 pages long. I knew that Judge...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 9:21 AM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 20, 2005
For the information hounds out there, Alan Templeton's paper, "Haplotype Trees and Modern Human Origins," on which I based my previous post is now published....
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 5:00 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolution
Judge Rules Against 'Intelligent Design' Initial reaction: what a relief. Once I have a chance to read the decision, I'll have something vaguely more insightful to say... Update: Oy. The decision turns out to be 139 pages. PDF here. Update,...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 10:53 AM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 15, 2005
Category: Evolution
Blunt talk from L. Lynn Hogue, conservative law professor from Georgia via law.com. Hogue has signed an amicus brief in the Georgia textbook sticker case supporting the removal of the anti-evolution disclaimers. "I'm not religiously sympathetic to anti-evolutionists, who I...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 3:00 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 12, 2005
Category: Evolution
There are few things as fascinating to me as the question of how our ancestors evolved from small-brained, tree-dwelling apes. But sometimes it all can feel a bit abstract. After all, we're talking about things that happened six million years...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 9:54 AM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 6, 2005
Category: Evolution
Over the weekend I was part of a panel at the American Anthropology Association, the topic of which was "Updating Human Evolution." I got to listen to ten presentations by scientists, each offering a look at how our understanding of...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 2:44 PM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 1, 2005
Category: Evolution
I've been asked to review a couple books about global warming. Climate change and evolution, which I mainly write about, are intimately related, since life is a potent source of greenhouse gases (methane from bacteria, etc.) and abrupt climate change...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 8:02 PM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolution
Light blogging this week is due to my frantic fragment of a week, returning from Thanksgiving and preparing to head down to DC to participate on a panel at the American Anthropological Association. The panel is called "Updating Human Evolution:...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 1:51 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
