Over at Bloggingheads, Chris Mooney declares the War on Science over, I foresee different sorts of conflicts, and together we try to predict the future of science in 2009.
Originally published January 17, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.
Author: Lori Jia
Nico writes: “Attached is my ‘science’ tattoo: the molecule resveratrol. Found in red wine, I wrote my dissertation on its potential biochemical attributes as a metastatic breast cancer preventative. Then I got out of research to learn how to make wine. That’s what I do now. I think it’s better to make wine than study it.”
Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.
Originally published January 16, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.
The BBC has launched a pair of spiffy new magazines about science–BBC Focus in the UK, and BBC Knowledge in the US. They’re running a special package of articles in honor of Darwin’s 200th birthday, which includes stuff from Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers, and me. They asked me to pay a visit to the lab of Richard Lenski, whose work documenting evolution in action I’ve written about on the Loom and in my book Microcosm. You can read about their work in what the BBC is calling a “digi-magazine” if you go here. (It requires Flash to see, and for some reason I can only see it on my Mac if I use Safari.)
Frankly, if I were Michael Mumma, I’d be going nuts right now. The NASA scientist and his colleagues have either found evidence of life on Mars, or are getting fooled by some weird geochemistry.
The researchers today today are reporting that in 2003 and 2006, they recorded plumes of methane rising from the surface of the Red Planet. Working back from their measurements of methane in the air, the researchers pinpointed some particular spots on Mars where the methane came from. And it’s a lot of methane they’re talking about–19,000 metric tons of the stuff in one plume. It’s coming out of Mars at the same rate seen at methane-producing spots on Earth.
Continue reading “Live Blogging The Mars Methane Mystery: Aliens At Last?”
Mitchell writes: “My science tattoo is an illustration of the molecular structure of phenobarbital. My cat has epilepsy and I have to give her pheno twice a day to prevent her seizures. I also have a background in chemistry and biology, so this tattoo is a tribute to both my cat and the nerdiness of science in general.”
Originally published January 15, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.