Author: Matt Kristoffersen
Greetings, people of Denver. On Thursday I will be speaking at the Denver Museum of Natural and Science about The Tangled Bank and my favorite creature of the season, swine flu. Here are the details. See you there!
Originally published November 30, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.
On this happy anniversary–the 150th anniversary of the Origin of Species–let us contemplate one of evolution’s great works: the origin of giants.
Whales are the biggest animals to ever live. Blue whales can get up to 160 tons–about as heavy as 2000 grown men. They are trailed in the rankings by the fin whale and a few other related species of whales. There are no lobsters in their ranks, no clams, no rodents. All these giants feed in much the same way. They swallow up water and filter it through fronds in their mouths called baleen. Most of the food they eat is tiny stuff, like krill and other small invertebrates. So some scientists have wondered how big whales manage to put enough tiny bits of food in their bodies to get to such huge sizes.
To find out how orchids exploit sex-crazed wasps for their own reproduction (and for lots of other marvels of coevolution), check out the November issue of Discover, which has an excerpt from my new book, The Tangled Bank.
Originally published November 23, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.
Ryan writes, “I am a mechanical engineer, and this tattoo was inspired by the cover of my mechanical engineering design textbook.”
Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.
Originally published November 22, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.
Today at 5 pm EST I am going to be on Science Fantastic, the radio show hosted by physicist Michio Kaku. You can call in at 800-449-8255. Here’s a list of stations that carry the show, either live or repeated later this week.
Originally published November 21, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.