On bloggingheads.tv, I talk to Tyler Volk about the beautiful, dangerous carbon cycle. Check it out.
Originally published November 23, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.
Author: Lori Jia
Last night I strapped on a bow tie and shot out my tuxedo cuffs, got in the car, and headed to the upper West Side to celebrate a global cataclysm. Actually, I was helping to celebrate the geologist who discovered the cataclysm. Walter Alvarez was receiving the Vetlesen Prize, the highest honor in the earth sciences.
Under the magnificent rotunda at Columbia’s Low Library, we sat down to dinner. Michael Purdy, the director of Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, kicked off the event by explaining that Alvarez was winning the award because he had changed the way earth scientists view the history of the Earth.
My experience with tuxedos has been limited to proms and weddings up until now, but today I’m renting a penguin suit for a most unexpected event: the geological equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Bet you didn’t know there was one! Actually, the Vetlesen Prize has been awarded every few years since 1959. This year’s winner is Walter Alvarez, who discovered the first clues that an asteroid plowed into the Earth 65 million years ago. The discovery was not just cool in and of itself, but changed the way scientists think about how surprising physical events can alter the course of evolution.
A couple days I introduced an awesome sea slug that eats algae and uses them to become photosynthetic. I thought it would be worth revisiting this marvelously plant-like animal for a couple reasons. One is that I’d like an excuse to post this excellent photo, which is on the cover of the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where a new paper on the sea slug is being published (photo by Mary Tyler). Another reason is that I wanted to relay an email exchange I had with the lead scientist on the study, Mary Rumpho.
Continue reading “The Further Adventures of the Emerald Green Sea Slug”
If you’d like to learn about some of the latest discoveries about the brain and find out where neuroscience is headed, please join me at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on Wednesday. I’ll be moderating a panel discussion packed with prominent neuroscientists. Here are the details:
The Franklin Institute, Discover Magazine and the National Science Foundation present a fascinating neuroscience symposium.
Continue reading “Attention, Philadelphia: We’re Invading Your Brain”