Happy Fourth of July weekend! Recently, I taped a conversation with Bill Nye and his co-host Corey Powell on their new podcast, Science Rules, about She Has Her Mother's Laugh. My daughter Charlotte first got the science bug in grade school by watching DVDs of Bill Nye the Science Guy. So I invited her to join me on the trip down to New York to meet her icon (knowing that she'd never forgive me if I went solo).
Once we got there, the producers invited her to join the conversation, since we were going to talk about heredity. I know I'm totally biased, but I think she did great. Charlotte's heading to college this fall with plans to major in astrophysics--but maybe she should keep radio in mind. You can listen here.
On the cover of this week's Science Times, I wrote about microbes that build wires to transmit electricity. There can be miles of wires in a square inch of mud, researchers have found. And it may be possible to borrow these filaments to build green electronics. (Art by Gordon Studer)
Last year I wrote about how scientists were reprogramming bacteria to treat a hereditary disease that wreaks havoc on our metabolism. This week I wrote about another engineered bug. This one was retooled to attack cancer. It seeks out tumors, slips inside, and then explodes with tailor-made toxins. Check it out.
Researchers are extracting DNA from ancient human skeletons in Siberia. Some of them belong to a population that were the closest relatives of today's Native Americans. (Photo by Elena Pavlova)
Here's my review of historian Mark Honigsbaum's new book, The Pandemic Century, for the New York Times Book Review. (Art by Tim Enthoven)
Our arms are built with the help of genes that tell cells where they are--close to the fingers or the shoulder, to the left side or the right, and so on. Turns out, tentacles and other limbs on cephalopods--octopus, squid, and cuttlefish--are built by the same genes. It's a delightful example of deep homology that scientists are finding across the animal kingdom. (Art from Wikipedia)
When insects migrate, their vast clouds can look like thunderstorms on weather radar. In June, I wrote about scientists who are tracking these migrations. They're finding that the bugs move in staggering numbers. One group of insects called hoverflies surges into southern England by the billions. (Photo by Will Hawkes)
Here are some of the stories that stuck with me over the past month
White House blocked intelligence agency’s written testimony calling climate change ‘possibly catastrophic,' by Juliet Eilperin, Josh Dawsey, and Brady Dennis (Washington Post)
Facebook Removes Conspiracy Site Natural News, by Kelly Weill (Daily Beast)
Russian biologist plans more CRISPR-edited babies, by David Cyranoski (Nature)
Planet is entering ‘new climate regime’ with ‘extraordinary’ heat waves intensified by global warming, study says, by Jason Samenow (Washington Post)
Climate Change Poses Major Risks to Financial Markets, Regulator Warns , by Coral Davenport (New York Times)
Trump directs agencies to cut advisory boards by 'at least' one-third, The Hill
Rising Temperatures Ravage the Himalayas, Rapidly Shrinking Its Glaciers, by Somini Sengupta (New York Times)
America Could Spend $400 Billion on a Wall to Hold Back the Rising Seas—and It Might Not Be Enough by Brian Kahn (Earther)
Agriculture Department buries studies showing dangers of climate change, by Helena Evich (Politico)
Smartphones aren’t making millennials grow horns. Here’s how to spot a bad study, by Nsikan Akpan (PBS News Hour)
The Last of Its Kind, by Ed Yong (The Atlantic)
Tourist Trap, by Daniel Engber (Slate)
Genealogy Sites Have Helped Identify Suspects. Now They’ve Helped Convict One, by Heather Murphy (New York Times)
Farmers Are Losing Everything After “Forever Chemicals” Turned Up In Their Food, by Nidhi Subbaraman (Buzzfeed)
Tree planting 'has mind-blowing potential' to tackle climate crisis, by Damian Carrington (The Guardian)
July 13, 2019 New York. Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism Keynote Address
August 31, 2019 Decatur, GA. Decatur Book Festival.
September 17, 2019 Washington, DC. Smithsonian. “An Evening With Carl Zimmer.” Details to come.
October 12, 2019 Morristown, NJ. Morristown Festival of Books. Details to come.
October 23, 2019 San Francisco. Arts & Ideas at the JCCSF. Details to come.
October 24, 2019 San Francisco. The Exploratorium. Details to come.
December 3, 2019 Nashville. Vanderbilt University. Details to come.
My latest book, She Has Her Mother's Laugh, is now out in paperback. You can order it now from fine book mongers, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, BAM, Hudson Booksellers, and IndieBound.
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Best wishes, Carl
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