NOVA isn’t just a great television series; it’s also a formidable web site. (And, as with so many things media these days, it’s hard to draw the line between the two.)

They’ve just launched an evolution-rich site, with information on their evolution-related shows and lots of other goodies. (As you can see, it’s still beta.)

As part of the unveiling, NOVA asked me if I’d pick ten of the most important developments in evolutionary biology over the past decade. I came up with a far-from-exhaustive list. Check it out.

Originally published October 26, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

After weeks of manically scrubbing my hands with soap, Purel, and eye of newt, I ended up getting swine flu anyway. It’s not terribly surprising, since my entire town seems to have become a Petri dish for the viruses this week. I find a stunning clarity to the flu–you don’t feel a little sleep-deprived, or a little raspy. You are just a slave, heeding your body’s call to go to bed. I’m grateful that I am now on the mend, but I’m worried that with so many of us conking out, even a small percentage of serious cases will wreak havoc on hospitals. Someone please remind me why we still make our flu vaccines in chicken eggs?

Continue reading “Where I’ll Be Talking (Now That I’m Conscious)” →

In my latest podcast, I talk to Hazel Barton, a microbiologist who explores the bizarre biology of microbes that live in deep caves. Check it out.

Originally published October 23, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

Take the Loom with you. Discover has now set up a mobile version of the entire site, including this blog. It looks good on my Itouch, I have to say, but judge for yourself. And let us know if you find any bugs in need of fixing.

Originally published October 21, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

Joshua , a conservation biologist, writes, ” This was a tattoo I got of one of the species that I did my Ph.D. on. The fish is Halichoeres hortulanus and the DNA sequence is the primer for one of the genes I used to study the fish (the mitochondrial control region).”

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.

Originally published October 16, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.