The National Academy of Sciences just announced its 2005 Communications Awards. Gareth Cook, Pulitzer prizewinner from the Boston Globe, won the Newspaper/Magazine/Internet category for his must-read series of articleson stem cells. I was named one of two finalists, for a group of pieces about evolution that appeared during 2005 in Discover, The New York Times, and right here. I knew I might be taking a risk by including some posts from The Loom, but I was very proud of them. It’s nice to see that blogs are taking seriously by the likes of the National Academy of Sciences.

Continue reading “Blogs: Another Sign of Semi-Respectability” →

My brother Ben is now a respectable consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary, but when he was a kid, he was a puzzle freak, pure and simple. In fourth grade he’d spend hours paging through a big unabridged Webster’s, looking for obscure words that he could use to create a fiendish rebus. Little did I know that one day one of his favorite puzzles–the doublet–would become useful to me in thinking about evolution.

Continue reading “The Steps of the Puzzle” →

Last year I was contacted by a team of scientists and museum exhibit designers to help put together a show about evolution. The result is Exploring Evolution, which is now opening at a string of state science museums in the midwest. (The list of participating museums is here.) The exhibit may not have a laser light show or a 100-foot long robotic dinosaur, but it does offer a look at seven examples of how scientists study evolution, from HIV to walking whales. Cornelia Dean includes the exhibit in an article in the New York Times on evolution-themed museum displays.

Continue reading “A Trip to the Museum” →

A lot of people think of viruses and bacteria in our bodies as nothing more than pests. It’s certainly true that a lot of them do an excellent job of making us ill. But some viruses and bacteria merged with our ancestors over the course of billions of years, and if you were to have them removed from your body today, you’d die faster than if you’d gotten a massive dose of Ebola.

Continue reading “Part Human, Part Virus” →

“March of the Penguins,” the conservative film critic and radio host Michael Medved said in an interview, is “the motion picture this summer that most passionately affirms traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child rearing.” –from an article describing how some religious leaders and conservative magazines are embracing the blockbuster documentary.

Continue reading “Traditional Norms, Animal-Style” →