Author: Lori Jia

Things That Come Together (By Falling Apart)

Posted on by Lori Jia

Abigail writes:

“My first year of college, I wanted to be an English major, and I took Intro Chemistry to fill the science requirement. The brief unit on thermodynamics made me fall totally in love. Entropy made sense to me – scientifically, philosophically. I became a Chemistry major and love every second of it. I got the tattoo to mark my rite of passage – Entropy going both ways, with its symble delta-S in the middle, all supported in the roots of Yggdrasil, the world-tree of Norse mythology (harking back to my English-lit days).”

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E. coli Infects the New York Times

Posted on by Lori Jia

With two weeks to go till Microcosm‘s publication date, I’m happy to direct your attention to an adapted excerpt that’s running in tomorrow’s New York Times. In this passage, I discuss what I like to call E. coli’s fingerprints.

We like to think that genes equal identity. If that were true, then a colony of genetically identical E. coli should be nothing but a robot army of clones. But diversity rules E. coli’s world, because there’s more to life than DNA, even when you’re just a microbe. Check it out.

I’ve also set up some pages over at carlzimmer.com with news, reviews, and other information about the book. And, of course, you’re encouraged to make your way over to Amazon…

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