As long as I can remember, I’ve been a fan of George Johnson’s writing about science. He has always kept focus on the deep mysteries of existence, even while writing in a deliciously clear style. So it was a real pleasure to talk to him on bloggingheads.tv about my own book, Microcosm. Even though we spent lots of time wondering what E. coli tells us about the universal rules of life itself, we still found time to talk about what it’s like to have sex in a Waring blender. Check it out. (And to all those insomniacs–don’t forget, I’ll be on the radio on Coast to Coast AM tonight at 1 am.)

Continue reading “Sex In A Blender: The Microcosm Edition of Bloggingheads” →

From the new issue: “It is a powerful account of the dynamic, complicated and social world we share with this ordinary yet remarkable bug. Evolution and genetics glitter among the pages, as do the lives and experiments of the scientists who have studied them. Microcosm is exciting, original and wholly persuasive of the beauty and utility of looking at the largest of issues from the smallest perspectives.” 

Originally published May 9, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.

I’ll be talking on Coast to Coast at a slightly less wee-hours time: 1 am on Sunday. 

Originally published May 9, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.

Mark writes:

“This tattoo is the Zermelo-Fraenkel with Choice axioms of set theory. These nine axioms are the basis for ZFC set theory, which is the most commonly studied form of set theory and the most well known set of axioms as well. From these nine axioms, one can derive all of mathematics. These provide the foundation of mathematics, a field that you can likely tell that I love dearly.”

Carl: Mark is making an encore appearance at the Emporium. See his Y combinator here…

Continue reading “Fitting the Foundations of Mathematics On One Arm” →

Just a quick note to say that, if all goes according to plan, I will be appearing on the Internets on bloggingheads tomorrow, and on the radio show Coast-to-Coast in the wee hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning. In both cases I’ll be talking about–you guessed it–Microcosm. I’ll be swilling coffee Saturday night because I’ll be talking from 2 am to 5 1 to 2 am EST Sunday. If you’re not quite such a night owl, I believe they’ll archive it on their site.

A couple other Microcosm-related notes: Discover Magazine gives a nod: “With Microcosm, this award-winning science writer has turned out an illuminating biography of one of biology’s most influential–and underappreciated–players.”

Continue reading “Bloggingheads and Coast-to-Coast: Both Get A Serious Does Of E. coli Tomorrow!” →