A new map of some of the connections neurons make in the frontal cortex of a monkey’s brain. From PLOS Computational Biology. Bigger image here.
Originally published April 4, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.
Author: Lori Jia
My newest “Dissection” column is up at Wired.com. This time around, I take a look at how our brains relay signals. They turn out to do a terrible job. What’s impressive is how they clean up their own mess. Check it out.
[Image via Vesalius Gallery]
(update 4.4.08 9:30 am: link fixed)
Originally published April 4, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.
In yet another sign of the growing respectability of the online world for communicating science, this year the National Academies have set up a new “online/Internet” category for their annual communication prize. Here’s what they want:
Entries original to the Web which published in English online in 2007 will be considered. Entries should include up to six online articles, hypertextual documents, podcasts, commentaries, etc., or any combination thereof, that constitute a formal series or that may have appeared individually on a topic or common theme.
These biologists are holding out on me.
I’ve been writing about biology for quite some time now, and sometimes I think I’ve got a pretty good sense of the scope of life. Neurosurgeon wasps–got it. Eels with alien jaws–check. And then I stumble across something new, or should I say, new to me.
This week’s revelation is androgenesis. Androgenesis is what happens when kids get all their genes from their father. Normally humans and other animals produce offspring by combining DNA from both mother and father, an arrangement that’s often the case in plants as well.
Greg left a comment:
You know, Carl, if you don’t have one of these yet, you might consider picking one up to accompany you on your (hoped for) book tour.
Greg, I always try to find a plush toy related to my latest book. I think it’s part of the late-stage madness that sets in during the third round of manuscript corrections. And E and me will be making the rounds in May to talk about Microcosm. So far, it looks like we’re heading to New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. In the next couple weeks I’ll have an official book tour schedule to post.