My second podcast is now live. I talk to Dennis Bray of the University of Cambridge about cells as microscopic computers. I first came across Bray’s work while working on my book, Microcosm. I was looking for new work on how E. coli manages to figure out where to go when it doesn’t have a brain or even a single neuron. Before long, I came across Bray’s remarkable work on the sophisticated information-processing that goes on inside the bug.

In this week’s podcast I sound like I’m broadcasting out of a tin can (I’m getting that hammered out), but don’t let my distractions get in the way of listening to Bray. And if you’re interested in more details, check out his new book, Wetware: A Computer in Every Living Cell.

Originally published October 12, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

Jeff, a pharmacy student in Richmond writes,

One thing about Richmond is that most everyone in the city has a tattoo. After living here for 3 years I finally gave into peer pressure and got a tattoo. The only thing I could think of getting that I wouldn’t regret later in life was something nerdy/chemistry related, organic chemistry to be specific. While searching for inspiration I stumbled upon this story about the German chemist August Kekule who is responsible for discovering the ring structure of benzene.
Kekule claims that he stopped writing and dozed off to sleep. He saw atoms whirling and dancing before his eyes. The atoms then began to reassemble themselves into long rows that seemed to move about in a snake-like motion. As he watched the snake dance, the vision progressed until the snake formed itself into an image he had seen years before at a 1850 murder trial: the snake devouring its own tail.

So there it is…a benzene ring with an Ouroborus around it…

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.

Originally published October 11, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

Tomorrow the Discovery Channel will show an Ardipithecus documentary. I’ve embedded a couple preview clips they’ve been sending around. I don’t have cable myself (the same way an alcoholic doesn’t keep cases of gin). So I’ll leave it to commenters to offer reviews tomorrow.

There’s obviously a striking parallel with the TV mania that recently surrounded another primate fossil, Darwinius. Personally, I don’t see anything amiss (a priori, at least), with a documentary coming out right after a journal paper gets published. What I don’t relish is when the publicity for a show distorts the news coverage of a fossil, as happened with Darwinius. So I’d be curious what people who watch the show think.

Originally published October 10, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

Check out this movie that uses Play Doh to explain the evolution of single-celled microbes to multicellular animals. It’s from Creature Cast, a very promising blog on biology from Casey Dunn of Brown University and his compadres.

CreatureCast Episode 2 from Casey Dunn on Vimeo.

Originally published October 15, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.

Deep down, we are all cannibals. In tomorrow’s issue of the New York Times, I take a look at the science of autophagy: how our cells destroy themselves to live again. It turns out that this cellular cannibalism is crucial for our well-being in many ways. Scientists are now trying to improve our ability to destroy ourselves as a potential treatment for diseases like cancer and Huntington disease, and perhaps even to slow the process of aging itself. Check it out.

(Note to link-lovers: the article takes you directly to some of the primary literature. Progress!)

[Image: Royal Academy of Arts]

Originally published October 5, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.