We have a habit of seeing nature in snapshots. We marvel at the adaptation of a species–see Ed Yong today on the maneuverability of cheetahs, for example–and don’t give much though about how it came to be. These snapshots can become downright confusing when we survey the diversity of many different species. Each species may have a radically different solution to the same problem. If one solution is so impressive, how could another one evolve, too?

The cure for this puzzlement is to get away from the snapshots. A species is a blurry, speckled thing. It’s made up of populations spread across a range, and each population is made up of many individuals, each with its own somewhat distinct set of genes. Those genes flow around the range, from individual to individual, mixed into new combinations, some spreading far and wide, some vanishing after a generation.

Continue reading “Poison, Camouflage, and the Rainbow of Evolution” →

I’m no fan of the cold, so it’s remarkable to me that there are so many species that can thrive at temperatures that would kill me from hypothermia. At Nova Next, I’ve written a feature about these so-called psychrophiles. I take a look at the biochemical secrets to survival at sub-zero temperatures, what psychrophiles can tell us about life on other chilly planets, and how biotechnology might harness their remarkable proteins for all sorts of applications. Check it out.

Originally published June 11, 2013. Copyright 2013 Carl Zimmer.

AT 3 pm ET today on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, I’ll be talking about my article this month in the Atlantic about a rare disease that creates a second skeleton, as well as the quandary of people with rare diseases more broadly. I’ll be on with Jeannie Peeper, who has the condition I write about and who is one of the main subjects in my piece.

Update: Here’s the recording of the segment.

Originally published June 10, 2013. Copyright 2013 Carl Zimmer.

Science is not a string of successes. It has its share of errors and misconduct, and acknowledging them does no disservice to the value of scientific research that stands the test of time. So it was a pleasure to review a new book, Brilliant Blunders, by Marco Livio, for the New York Times Book Review. No one is perfect, Livio shows us, even some of the greatest scientists of the modern age. Check it out.

Originally published June 8, 2013. Copyright 2013 Carl Zimmer.