Bob Howe writes, “In 1992, at age 34, I decided to get a tattoo. I’m a speculative fiction writer. I wanted something grounded in the natural world, that symbolized the connection between inner and outer space, and that was unequivocally male without being bellicose. I wanted something that wasn’t a momentary fad, that was timeless and eternal: I chose Jupiter. Two years later, Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into the face of the planet, altering it forever.”

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium. 

Originally published January 30, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

I’m putting together a list of classic articles and essays about science for a writing class I’m designing, and I’m a bit frustrated. I’ve read plenty of great stuff over the years, but the list I’m coming up with feels too short. So allow me to launch a comment thread: can you name an article or essay about science that you read years ago in a magazine or newspaper that still sticks with you? (No books allowed.)

Update: Just to be clear, I’m not looking for scientific papers. 

Originally published January 27, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

Our bodies are bunches of atoms, and like any rock or star or other bunch of atoms, we have to obey the laws of physics as we move. But each species obeys those same laws in its own way. My cat leaps onto my desk most mornings, his grace unblemished by the paper clips and computer cables he kicks onto the floor. A maple tree outside bends in the wind, a happy medium between flopping over and snapping in two. A hawk arrives at the tree and lands precisely on a branch. On their own, our eyes cannot tell us much about the different ways in which living things move. We can’t see the invisible vortices of air spiraling behind a hawk, the stresses experienced by different parts of the leaning maple, the thrust and torque generated by my cat as he rises into the air.

Continue reading “The Flesh of Physics” →

Jennifer writes: “I’m not a scientist (exactly) but I am in the Navy, just like many of the men who visited the moon. My husband and son are space fanatics, the Goodnight Moon window is for my daughter. She loves the book.”

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium. 

Originally published January 23, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

Check out this scholarship for high school science teachers to learn tropical biology in Costa Rican jungles. Apply here. Get sweaty. Have a good time. 

Originally published January 22, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.