The folks at CreatureCast have created a new animation about the weirder corners of zoology. Behold Symbion pandora, an animal that clings to the mouthparts of lobsters, where it engages in the weirdest sex life I’ve ever heard of.

Originally published May 9, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.

I’m pleased to report that I’ve just been appointed to the board of directors of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. It’s a venerable organization that’s been around for fifty years, dedicated to improving the quality of science news reaching the public. Their programs include the New Horizons in Science briefing, which brings together leading scientists with journalist to talk about cutting-edge research. We’re already scheming about some new ideas to use twenty-first century tools to help science writers–and readers–in new ways. I’ll keep you posted.

Originally published May 9, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.

I’ve got a request for the Loom’s hive mind. I’ve been asked to contribute a book chapter to a guide to evolutionary biology. The subject of my assignment is evolution and the media. I’ve already covered some of this territory in a 2010 review I wrote for the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach (pdf), but I’d like to flesh it out a bit. I’m familiar with the past thirty years of the subject from my own experience, and I’m familiar with Darwin’s reception in his own lifetime, thanks to all the scholarship that’s been produced about that period. But the century or so in between is a lot sketchier for me. The Scopes Monkey trial comes to mind, of course, but not a lot else. My search of the history-of-science literature has yielded little, probably because I’m not using the right search terms. If anybody has any pointers, I’d be most grateful (and will, of course, thank you in the acknowledgments). Thanks!

Originally published May 8, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.

To mark the publication of A Planet of Viruses, the University of Chicago Press asked me to participate in a weekly series of conversations with experts on some of the themes I explore in the book. They’ll be coming out each Friday in May. First up is an exchange between me and Ian Lipkin, a virus hunter at Columbia University and the subject of this 2010 profile I wrote for the New York Times. As if waving a piece of red meat before me, Lipkin wonders if viruses can alter our behavior. I then take the bait. Check it out.

Originally published May 6, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.

Here’s the video of last night’s science-writing event at the MIT Museum. Thanks to everyone who made it possible!

Originally published May 4, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.