We’ve come to the end of the first week of Download the Universe, a science ebook review. Today’s review is from Maggie Koerth-Baker, the science editor of Boing-Boing and author of the forthcoming Before the Lights Go Out, a book about the future of energy. She reviews Into the Forbidden Zone by William Vollmann, in which the author recounts his journey into Japan’s post-tsunami hell. Maggie weaves in her own reflections on how hard it can be for us to judge the real risks we face from nature and from our own technology.

It’s been a great experience to see the idea for this project go from conference-hallway gabbing to actual publication. Here are the rest of this week’s offerings:

Continue reading “Download the Universe: Week One!” →

There are times when I want to retitled this blog The Continuing Adventures of Parasitic Wasps and Their Unfortunate Hosts. Because there are just so many stories of these sinister insects and how they lay their eggs inside other animals. That’s no surprise, really, because there are hundreds of thousands of species of parasitic wasps on Earth, all evolving in different directions as they adapt to their host’s defenses.

Last week, for example, I reported in the New York Times about a newly discovered defense that flies use against certain wasps: when the wasps inject their eggs into the flies, the flies drink alcohol to literally turn the parasites inside out.

Continue reading “Russian Doll Warfare: Plant, Virus, Bacteria, Aphid, Wasp” →

One of the most interesting features of Google’s new social media service, Google+, is Google+ Hangout On Air. A group of people get onto G+ all at once, fire up their computers’ cameras, and have a conversation. Google puts whoever is speaking at the moment on the main screen. You can join a hangout if it’s public or if you have an invitation, and–coolest of all–it automatically records the conversation and throws it onto Youtube.

Continue reading “Parasite mind-control, ebooks, and killer flu: My first Google+ Hangout video” →

In the March issue of Smithsonian, I profile Thomas Seeley, a Cornell scientist who has spent forty years pondering how honeybees make up their collective minds. His discoveries reveal some striking parallels between honeybee swarms and our own brains. There are even some lessons we can learn from bees about how to run a democracy.

Reporting this story involved some of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had, as the introduction to my piece illustrates:

Continue reading “The Hive Mind Reader: My Smithsonian profile of Thomas Seeley” →

By weird coincidence, on the same day I announce the launch of an ebook review, I get to enjoy some of the harsh realities of the ebook business. Over the past year I’ve published two collections of my pieces about the brain, Brain Cuttings and More Brain Cuttings. I just found out that Amazon has decided, for now, not to sell them. (Here’s some background.)

You still have lots of options for getting your hands on these ebooks.

Scott & Nix, the publisher, offers both titles in pdf and epub formats. (Brain Cuttings, More Brain Cuttings)

Barnes & Noble sells then for the Nook. (Brain Cuttings, More Brain Cuttings)

Apple sells it in them iBookstore. (Brain Cuttings, More Brain Cuttings)

Update: Publisher’s Lunch has the details of the showdown between Amazon and Independent Publishers Group over Kindle titles.

Originally published February 22, 2012. Copyright 2012 Carl Zimmer.