It’s been a big news week–and not just when it comes to politics.

In yesterday’s New York Times, I reported on the discovery of the oldest known fossils of our species. Their discovery represents a huge jump back in time. Before now, the oldest known fossils of Homo sapiens were 195,000 years old. The new ones are over 300,000 years old. Aside from breaking records, the fossils also tell us new things about how our species evolved. A picture of one of the fossils made the front page of the paper, making for quite a contrast with news about Comey’s testimony, terrorism in Tehran, and all the rest of our species’s current concerns. You can read the online ​version of my story here.

Here are a couple other pieces I’ve written since my last email. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, June 9, 2017” →

A few days ago I reached the end of my manuscript for my upcoming book about heredity, which I’ve tentatively called She Has Her Mother’s Laugh. Of course, I’m not quite done: there are still a few [Fill in really complicated stuff here] markers that I’m going to have to attend to. Nevertheless, it is a huge relief to type those three letters. In future emails, I’ll send updates on the book: the cover, the official publication date next year, talks, reviews, Instagrams of uses as doorstops and paperweights, etc.

Since the last Friday’s Elk, I’ve written a few columns for the New York Times: Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, April 27, 2017” →

The other day I used Post-it notes to organize my ideas for the last chapter of my book about heredity. On the one hand, getting to this point feels good: Last chapter! Lots of ideas! On the other hand, you readers probably won’t be happy with a pile of Post-it notes at the end of my book. So…I’m busy.

Since the last Friday’s Elk, I’ve published a couple columns for the New York Times. Recently, a group of scientists published a review about the emerging science of making embryo-like…things. They’re not eggs fertilized by sperm. They’re reprogrammed stem cells that, when combined with each other, start to develop embryo-like features. We can learn a lot from them. But how far should we let them go? Here’s my look at the ethics of this brave new world. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, March 25, 2017” →

Greetings! Here’s a quick update since the last Friday’s Elk.

1. The oceans contain vast underwater prairies known as seagrass meadows. For my column this week in the New York Times, I write about the remarkable services they provide to us–including killing off disease-causing bacteria. Maybe if we come to appreciate their value, we’ll stop destroying them at the rate of a football field every thirty minutes. (Image: prilfish via Creative Commons)

2. Why do we sleep? For my previous “Matter” column, I write about scientists who are inspecting the molecular changes that occur in the brain when we doze. Their results suggest that we prune away some connections between our neurons–sharpening our memories, as it were. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, February 17, 2017” →