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.

Not long ago, a friend of mine asked me if I had heard of a condition called situs inversus. He had learned about it when his grandson had been born with his internal organs flipped–heart on the right, liver on the left, and so on. Despite that remarkable reversal, the boy was fine. His story got me curious about how the condition happens–and how our bodies, for the most part, figure out which side is which. The result is a story in tomorrow’s New York Times. Check it out.

Originally published June 3, 2013. Copyright 2013 Carl Zimmer.