This is how the Emporium was born. Last summer I was at a pool party where a friend, Bob Datta, was bobbing around in the water with his kids. Datta is a post-doc at Columbia, where he studies genes in Drosophila flies. I noticed that Bob had a tattoo of DNA on his shoulder. At first I thought it was a generic snippet of the molecule, but then Bob told me that it actually represents, in the genetic code, his wife’s initials: EEE. Geek love in its noblest form.
Category: Blog
After a lot of writing and a lot of waiting, the first review of my next book, Microcosm, has just come out. Actually, it’s coming out on Monday in Publisher’s Weekly, but they apparently couldn’t wait, sending out a link to it today in their weekly newsletter:
When most readers hear the words E. coli, they think tainted hamburger or toxic spinach. Noted science writer Zimmer says there are in fact many different strains of E. coli, some coexisting quite happily with us in our digestive tracts.
Continue reading “Microcosm’s First Review: You Are Required to Buy This Book”
I guess it’s only appropriate that the week of Darwin’s birthday is seeing a bunch of new reports about evolutionary transitions. On Monday there was news about how ancient whales with teeth turned into whales with baleen–thanks to the discovery of a fossil of an ancient whale that appears to have had both teeth and baleen. Today’s news takes us from the sea to the trees–the fossil of a primitive bat. The transition that the ancestors of bats made from scampering shrew-like mammals to masterful flyers has remained particularly mysterious. Today’s new fossil lets us look back further than ever into this transition.
It’s time to add a new chapter to the Whale Chronicles….
…more below the fold…
Evidence from both DNA and fossils agree that whales evolved from hoofed mammals on land. At first they may have been occasional swimmers, only later evolving into meat-eaters hunting for prey in the water. Between about 50 and 40 million years ago, they became increasingly adapted to the sea. Paleontologists have found fossils of dozens of species of early whales documenting this transition.
Why are modern families so small? Could it have something in common with peacock tails? A fascinating essay in the new issue of Science is the basis of my newest column for Wired. And man oh man, are the commenters freaking out. Judge for yourself.
The Natural History of the Only Child
Originally published February 8, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.