James Snyder noticed one day that a frog had climbed onto a tree in his backyard in southern Florida and swallowed one of his Christmas lights. He snapped this eerie photo in which the light glows through the frog’s stomach, like a herpetological holiday ornament.

This frog’s behavior seems weirdly stupid. But there’s actually a wisdom of sorts in swallowing a Christmas light–if you’re a Cuban tree frog, that is. For thousands of years, the only glows your ancestors ever saw on a tree came from luminescent insects. If they responded to a little glow by attacking, they got a meal. They were more likely to survive and have baby frogs. The frogs that didn’t respond? Some of them may have done just fine. But others may have gone hungry. The males might have struggled to attract a mate; the females might have laid small eggs that failed to develop.

Continue reading “Freeing Animals From Our Evolutionary Traps” →

Cancer may not seem to have much to do with evolution, but they’re actually intimately linked. Cancer cells evolve within tumors, becoming better at exploiting our bodies and resisting cancer drugs. We have evolved a number of adaptations to fight cancer–or at least to put it off until past our child-bearing years. The intersection of cancer and evolution has become so fruitful that there’s now a biennial international meeting on the subject. This year, the meeting organizers asked me to give a public lecture on cancer and evolution in San Francisco. My talk, “The Devil’s Tumor,” will take place on Friday, June 14, at 7 pm–followed by a performance by the one and only Baba Brinkman. Details here. I hope Bay Area folk can join us!

Originally published June 4, 2013. Copyright 2013 Carl Zimmer.