Author: Matt Kristoffersen

The hidden light: My new brain column in Discover

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

We can see because neurons in our eyes take in visible light and relay electric signals to the brain. But some of the neurons in our retinas detect light that we cannot actually see. In fact, people who lose all their other retinal cells except these neurons are blind. If you shine a light in their eyes and ask them to guess the color, however, they guess very well. It turns out these neurons feed this invisible light to many parts of the brain. In my latest column for Discover, I take a look at this hidden light. Check it out.

[Image: Billy Rowlinson on Flickr via Creative Commons]

Originally published February 17, 2012. Copyright 2012 Carl Zimmer.

Flies and booze: strictly for medicinal purposes

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

One mission of the Loom is to champion unjustly neglected forms of life. And so I spend a lot of time blogging about the sinister powers of parasites. But I don’t want to leave you with the impression that hosts are simply helpless bags of grub. Hosts have evolved defenses to ward off parasites, and those defenses can be just as baroque and marvelous as the adaptations of their parasites.

Continue reading “Flies and booze: strictly for medicinal purposes” →

A Planet of Viruses: Autographed Book Sale

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

I’ve posted a batch of autographed, hardback editions of A Planet of Viruses in my Amazon store. You can have your own inscribed copy for ten dollars plus shipping. Click here to order.

For those unfamiliar with the book: it’s a linked collection of twelve essays on twelve viruses. I use each one to illustrate a broad lesson about viruses in general, such as the fact that they are the most abundant life form on Earth and that they make up a sizable portion of the human genome.

The Washington Post wrote: “In A Planet of Viruses, science writer Carl Zimmer accomplishes in a mere 100 pages what other authors struggle to do in 500: He reshapes our understanding of the hidden realities at the core of everyday existence.”

PS: The paperback edition will be coming out this spring.

Originally published February 12, 2012. Copyright 2012 Carl Zimmer.

Animal Friendships: My cover story for Time magazine

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

I’ve got a story on the cover of the latest issue of Time. It’s about the evolutionary origins of friendship. For a number of scientists, friendship–in a deep sense of the word–is not limited to our own species. The fact that friendship may be a widespread biological phenomenon could help us better understand why it has such a positive effect on our own health.

If you’re interested in the scientific literature, the best way in–and the way I first started to get familiar with it–is this review in the latest issue of Annual Review of Psychology by Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth, two of the world’s leading primatologists.

Continue reading “Animal Friendships: My cover story for Time magazine” →