Author: Matt Kristoffersen
I’ll be appearing on The Takeaway Tuesday morning to talk about smiles. I’ll be on at some point between 6:20 and 6:40 am, and you can catch my segment again in the 8 am hour (EST). Soon after, it will be archived here.
Originally published January 24, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.
I’ve got two stories in the New York Times tomorrow, at two ends of life’s scales.
In the cover story, I write about smiles. Faces have long fascinated me (see this Discover column on Darwin and Botox), and so I was intrigued to come across this recent paper focusing on smiles in particular. I talked to David Corcoran about the story for the first twelve minutes of the latest Science Times podcast.
“If I may throw out a word of counsel to beginners, it is: Treasure your exceptions! When there are none, the work gets so dull that no one cares to carry it further. Keep them always uncovered and in sight. Exceptions are like the rough brickwork of a growing building which tells that there is more to come and shows where the next construction is to be.”
—William Bateson, in The Method and Scope of Genetics, 1908. [pdf]
[Image: National Portrait Gallery]
Originally published January 22, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.
I don’t usually make pleas on the Loom. It doesn’t suit my journalistic nature, and if I make a plug for one cause, it may seem like I am cruelly indifferent to all the other good causes out there. In this case, I’ll just fall back on self-interest! A few weeks back two young film-makers, Sam Gaty and George Costakis, stopped by my house to interview me about synthetic biology for a documentary they’re making on the subject. They’ve been filming across the country for the movie, but it won’t finished in time for next year’s Sundance unless they can raise a little scratch to get them through the summer. Over at the fund-raising site Kickstarter, Gaty makes the case–and offers a clip about goats making spider silk. If this movie doesn’t get made, I end up on the cutting room floor. Oh, the humanity! (Actually, I think the film would be pretty cool without me–but judge for yourself.)
Originally published January 19, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.
For nearly three years, the story of Abigail Garcia has woven its way through this blog.
Back in April 2008, I got an email from Garcia, at the time an 18-year-old student at Reed College. I had started gathering science tattoos, and she had one she wanted to share.