I’m happy to relay some new information about my book Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life

1. Jersey! I’ll be returning to the Garden State where I spent my formative years, to speak next Wednesday at the Center for Science Writings at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken NJ. For you New Yorkers, that’s a quick PATH ride under the Hudson.

The Center’s director, John Horgan, blogged the other day about the talk, having just read Microcosm. He even admits that the book made him question his long-held belief that science’s best days are over. I’ll be speaking at 4 pm at the Babbio Center. (Here’s a campus map.)

Continue reading “Microcosm Update: Reviews and an Impending Outbreak in Jersey” →

I live near the Long Island Sound, in a landscape overrun with invaders from all over the world. My wife spends her free time ripping out Japanese knotweed from our garden. The Connecticut salt marshes are overrun with invasive Phragmites reeds. Starlings descend on us like a hail storm. So I found it intriguing to discover some scientists who don’t consider invasive species to be all that big a deal compared to other effects we’re having on the environment, like habitat destruction and climate change. In today’s Science Times section of the New York Times, I have an article about some of their recent research, and their critics who think they’re missing the true dangers of invasives.

Continue reading “Invaders Settle In” →

Jessica writes:

“I’m happy to send you my very own science tattoo — a buckyball net. I’ve always been fascinated by carbon and its presence on our planet — but I didn’t want to choose an ordinary representation of carbon for my…uh…lifetime ink commitment. Behold the carbon 60 molecule, which just happens to fit my idea and look ridiculously cool, especially when “unfolded.” I initially wanted the design to be small and discreet, but my tattoo artist thought it was such a cool design that he insisted I get it bigger. I’m happy I took his advice.”

Continue reading “Unfolding the Carbon Cage” →

There’s a very cool paper in the latest issue of Science that pinpoints a particular chunk of DNA that may have played a role in the evolution of a human-like hand from the hands of our primate ancestors. Not Exactly Rocket Science has the details. For some reason, a number of articles on the paper are using the hook that this segment of DNA was once dissed as junk. “A patch of DNA once regarded as ‘junk’ may hold the key to upright walking and opposable thumbs,” according to Wired. These reports seem to be following the language from the original press release.

The “Wow! Junk DNA is not junk after all” news hook is a tempting one, but it needs to be resisted. At the very least, science writers need to recall some history.

Continue reading “Science Writers Need Science History” →