Friday’s Elk, August 18, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

I’m excited to let you know about a series of live events I’ll be presenting this fall in New York.

It’s called, simply, “What is Life?” I’ll be talking on stage, one-on-one, with scientists and philosophers about this fundamental question. We’re going to explore the latest insights science has provided us about how life began, how to find it on other planets, and how to think about it.

The events will take place at Caveat, a new Manhattan science-focused venue (complete with food and drink). The first one will be on September 6 at 8 pm. I’ll speak first to Carlos Mariscal, a philosopher from the University of Nevada, and then to Sara Imari Walker, a physicist at Arizona State University. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, August 18, 2017” →

A Speedier Way to Catalog Human Cells (All 37 Trillion of Them)

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The New York Times, August 17, 2017

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There are some questions in biology that you’d think were settled long ago. For instance: How many types of cells are there in the human body?

“If you just Google this, the number everyone uses is 200,” said Jay Shendure, a geneticist at the University of Washington. “But to me that seems absurdly low.” A number of scientists like him want to build a more complete catalog.

Yet there are an estimated 37 trillion cells in the human body. The traditional ways to identify cell types — such as carefully tracing the shape of individual cells under a microscope — are too slow and crude for the job.

Continue reading “A Speedier Way to Catalog Human Cells (All 37 Trillion of Them)” →

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” →

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Mammals Took to the Skies

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The New York Times, August 9, 2017

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The Mesozoic Era, from 252 million years ago to 66 million years ago, is often called the Age of Dinosaurs. To generations of paleontologists, early mammals from the period were just tiny nocturnal insect-eaters, trapped in the shadows of leviathans.

In recent years, scientists have significantly revised the story. Mammals already had evolved into a staggering range of forms, fossil evidence shows, foreshadowing the diversity of mammals today.

In a study published on Wednesday, a team of paleontologists added some particularly fascinating new creatures to the Mesozoic Menagerie. These mammals did not lurk in the shadows of dinosaurs.

Continue reading “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Mammals Took to the Skies” →

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” →