Greetings--Guaranteed: Nothing on this list is an April Fool's joke.
Endangered animals get a lot of medical attention in captivity--but are they getting too much attention for their own good? For my column this week in the New York Times, I write about some scientists who think that parasites are important to the long-term survival of species.
In some ways, DNA is a ridiculous molecule to use for heredity. The DNA in a single cell measures six feet in length, and has to be carefully folded in order to function. For my latest Science Happens video on Stat, I visit a scientist who studies DNA's three-dimensional structure. It's accompanied by gorgeous computer visualizations of our inner tangle. (GIF courtesy of Leonid Mirny, MIT)
I've added a new entry to the talks below. On April 23, I'll be at the Science & Storytelling Conference at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. It's shaping up as an exciting event, including a keynote from the great nature writer David Quammen.
April 21: New York. Fordham University. Details here.
NEW!--> April 23: Yale. Science & Storytelling Conference. Details
June 17: Austin, Texas. Public Lecture for the Stephen Jay Gould Award. Details here
June 23-25: Durham North Carolina: International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, Plenary Lecture. Here's the meeting site.
June 29: Boston: Festival of Genomics, Plenary Lecture, "Tales from the genome beat: how journalists explore (& sometimes get lost in) our DNA." Details here.
July 31: Keynote lecture at the annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America in Savannah
January 28-29, 2017 Rancho Mirage Writers Festival
You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook , LinkedIn, and Google+. And there's always carlzimmer.com.
Best wishes, Carl
If you'd like to learn more about my books, you can visit my web site
"Friday's Elk" is free. If you'd like to support my writing, you can pay what you'd like for an optional subscription