At least for me, getting to see the cover of a new book for the first time is a great morale boost. The designer usually finishes it up right around the time when I’m starting to wonder if the book will ever become real. Recently I got the new cover of Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life. I wrapped it around another book and stuck it on my mantelpiece, to remind myself that soon (May, actually), the book will be in bookstores. But I can show it to you now, because it’s been posted at Amazon and at the Random House web site.

Continue reading “Microcosm: Unveiling the New Book (Or At Least Its Cover)” →

Thanks for all the questions for my talk with Craig Venter for bloggingheads.tv. I didn’t end up reading questions verbatim a la Emily Litella (“a Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee New Jersey asks…”) But the questions definitely shaped the conversation.

Some readers have been asking when our talk will be posted. Answer: Saturday morning. I’ll post a link when it’s live, and you can also check bloggingheads.tv directly.

Update: It’s up. Comments are welcome over there or over here.

Continue reading “Tomorrow: Talking To Craig Venter” →

“I am a biochemist, studying to be a molecular biologist, and the tattoo I am sending is the entry for carbon on the periodic table of elements. Since all living things on this planet at least are carbon based, from a chemical standpoint, it doesn’t get much more basic than carbon. Hence the tattoo.” –Erin

The call for science tattoos has brought 81 images now. After two months, they keep coming. 

Originally published October 19, 2007. Copyright 2007 Carl Zimmer.

[Update 10/18 8:30 am: Honestly, when I wrote this post last night, I could only access the first couple paragraphs of the op-ed in question. But now the link takes you to the full text. Could it be that my cries were heard?? Doubt it, but open access is always nice.]

In today’s Wall Street Journal there was a very provocative op-ed by ecologist Daniel Botkin. He argues that the evidence of potential harm from global warming is overblown. Here is what you can see for free…

Continue reading “Rupert Murdoch, Tear Down This Wall!” →

Permit me a wee bit of nepotism. My brother Ben is on ABC News: World News tonight to celebrate National Dictionary Day. He talks about how language evolves in weird ways. It’s already on their web cast here .

Originally published October 16, 2007. Copyright 2007 Carl Zimmer.