Category: Newsletter

Friday’s Elk, September 8, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

It was a sold-out night on Wednesday at Caveat, the new New York science-themed venue that’s hosting my live series, “What is Life?” this fall.

I talked to a philosopher and an astrobiologist about how they define life, bringing out some props to figure out where they stand, life-wise: some lichen from my yard, a wind-up toy, a vial of viruses, and a rusty nail.

Sara Imari Walker of Arizona State University (in the photo) told the audience that I was talking about life as a thing, whereas she thought of it as a process. I took an applause-based survey, and discovered that they agreed. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, September 8, 2017” →

Friday’s Elk, August 25, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Last week I let you know about my upcoming series of talks about life. Here’s an update with the details of the full schedule. All four events will take place at Caveat in Manhattan:

9/6 I’ll kick off the series with the fundamental question, “What is life?” First I’ll talk to a philosopher, Carlos Mariscal, about why this question is so hard to answer–perhaps because the question itself doesn’t make sense. Then I’ll speak with Sara Imari Walker, a physicist and astrobiologist, about how she answers the question as part of the search for extraterrestrial life.

11/1 How did life start? Geochemist H James Cleaves II and I will talk about the century-long struggle to answer that question. I’ll then talk with astrobiologist Caleb Scharf about where that struggle has left us today, and where it’s headed. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, August 25, 2017” →

Friday’s Elk, August 11, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings! I’m back from my break and putting the finishing touches on my heredity book. This is the anxious stage when I have to try to artfully slip late-breaking news–such CRISPR-edited human embryos (shown above)–into the manuscript. Everyone who writes a book about science silently wishes that scientists would halt all their relevant research once the book goes to the printer. After the book has safely made it to the paperback edition stage, I think it would be okay for the research to start again…

Speaking of CRISPR, I talked this week to Michael Barbaro of “The Daily,” the New York Times podcast. In a week dominated by talk of nuclear war, I was grateful to get a chance to chat about biology. Here’s the episode. My portion starts around 7:00.

For my first post-break “Matter” column for the New York Times, I write about some beautiful new fossils that tell us something new about the history of mammals. In the Age of Dinosaurs, a number of them glided overhead. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, August 11, 2017” →

Friday’s Elk, July 14, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings! I’m taking a summer break, but I wanted to let you know about a couple of new pieces of audio for your listening pleasure.

–This week, I spoke with BBC World Service’s show, “The Inquiry.” The title of this week’s episode is, “Is Gene Editing Out of Control?” I told the story of how we got to the point where we can even ask that question.

–At last month’s Aspen Idea Festival, fellow science writer Ed Yong and I had a lively conversation in front of a live audience about the many ways science undermines our notion of ourselves as individuals. We roved over new discoveries about the human genome, microbiomes, and brains. You can listen to the hour-long recording here. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, July 14, 2017” →

Friday’s Elk, July 1, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

A number of people just signed up this week for Friday’s Elk–I’m guessing after seeing a link to it in my Reddit Ask-Me-Anything session on Tuesday. Welcome!

Just so you know, I use this email to keep interested folks up to date with my writing and talks. And, taking a page from science writer Ed Yong (who puts out a superb email newsletter), I’m going to start sharing the science-related things I’m consuming–articles, podcasts, etc.–that I consider particularly link-worthy. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, July 1, 2017” →