| A couple viruses are waving hello to the United States right now. Flu season is about to kick off, while people have been diagnosed with Ebola not just in Texas, but in New York. But there are some important differences between the two viruses that I explore inan article in today’s New York Times. Most importantly: there’s no evidence that Ebola spreads through the air like the flu. |
The New York Times, October 23, 2014
Even as American hospitals prepare for new cases of Ebola, they must brace for a more familiar invader. The flu season will arrive soon — although exactly when, scientists cannot say.
Flu viruses and Ebola viruses take different routes to the same biological goal: to get into new hosts and replicate. Scientists have learned a great deal about the devious ways in which they manage to do it.
Continue reading “As Ebola Spreads, So Have Several Fallacies”
The New York Times, October 22, 2014
Scientists have reconstructed the genome of a man who lived 45,000 years ago, by far the oldest genetic record ever obtained from modern humans. The research, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, provided new clues to the expansion of modern humans from Africa about 60,000 years ago, when they moved into Europe and Asia.
And the genome, extracted from a fossil thighbone found in Siberia, added strong support to a provocative hypothesis: Early humans interbred with Neanderthals.
Continue reading “Man’s Genome From 45,000 Years Ago Is Reconstructed”
The good folks at Radiolab have a new episode out. It’s on the many different senses of the word translation. The show ranges from vision-sensing tongue vibrators to high-level diplomatic misunderstandings. At the end of the show, I talk to Jad Abumrad about the most fundamental translation of all: the process by which our cells turn information in our DNA into proteins. Here’s the embedded episode. And for more, see my recent story for Nautilus.my recent story for Nautilus.my recent story for Nautilus.
I’ve written the cover story for the new November issue of National Geographic about the biology of parasite manipulation. I’ve been obsessed by this subject for a long time. (In my book Parasite Rex I wrote a chapter on this bizarre slice of reality). So it’s a huge delight to help give these mind-controllers the Nat Geo treatment: gorgeous pictures. When I wrote Parasite Rex, I gathered up what photos I could find, but none of them did the parasites justice. Anand Varma has journeyed to a number of countries to find the creepiest examples of this surprisingly common (and medical useful) phenomenon.
Continue reading “This Month In National Geographic: Parasites and Their Zombies”