Friday’s Elk, December 11, 2015

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings–

I was traveling for much of this week on a reporting trip, part of which I spent suited up in the outfit you can see above. So I don’t have a Matter column this week. Instead, let me direct your attention to the second installment of my “Science Happens” video series for STAT. I pay a visit to a lab where scientists are trying to engineer bacteria to heal our microbiomes.

As always, if you have friends you think would enjoy getting this newsletter, please tell them to sign up at http://tinyletter.com/carlzimmer.

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Best wishes, Carl

Originally published December 11, 2015. Copyright 2015 Carl Zimmer.

Friday’s Elk, December 4, 2015 (The better late than ever edition)

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings–

Sorry to be sending out this week’s issue of Friday’s Elk on a Saturday. I blame writing. I’m starting on the first draft of my next book, and I was having so much fun spending a day of uninterrupted writing that I forgot about everything else.

Better late than never, here are a couple new items for you to read. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, December 4, 2015 (The better late than ever edition)” →

Fathers May Pass Down More Than Just Genes, Study Suggests

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The New York Times, December 3, 2015

Link

In 2013, an obese man went to Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark to have his stomach stapled. All in all, it was ordinary bariatric surgery — with one big exception.

A week before the operation, the man provided a sperm sample to Danish scientists. A week after the procedure, he did so again. A year later, he donated a third sample.

Scientists were investigating a tantalizing but controversial hypothesis: that a man’s experiences can alter his sperm, and that those changes in turn may alter his children.

Continue reading “Fathers May Pass Down More Than Just Genes, Study Suggests” →

A radically simple idea may open the door to a new world of antibiotics

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STAT, December 3, 2015

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BOSTON — Slava Epstein works in aggressively low-tech quarters at Northeastern University. You might expect otherwise, given the extraordinary work that he and his colleagues are doing, discovering new kinds of antibiotics that are fundamentally different than the ones doctors prescribe today.

And yet, when I paid Epstein a visit recently, we sat down amid a veritable landfill of scientific reprints, old Starbucks cups, and empty bottles of Vitamin Water.

“I apologize for the awful, awful mess,” he said in a light Russian accent.

Continue reading “A radically simple idea may open the door to a new world of antibiotics” →

Friday’s Elk, November 27, 2015

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings–

Happy Thanksgiving! In honor of the turkey fest, here’s a breifer-than-usual Friday’s Elk this week.

Europe Evolving

–This week in the New York Times, I reported about a study of 230 genomes retrieved from European skeletons ranging from 8,500 to 2,300 years in age. They create a chronicle of human evolution, documenting how the agricultural revolution altered the genetic landscape of a continent. Check it out. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, November 27, 2015” →