I’ve got two stories in the New York Times tomorrow, at two ends of life’s scales.
In the cover story, I write about smiles. Faces have long fascinated me (see this Discover column on Darwin and Botox), and so I was intrigued to come across this recent paper focusing on smiles in particular. I talked to David Corcoran about the story for the first twelve minutes of the latest Science Times podcast.
The New York Times, January 24, 2011
In the middle of a phone call four years ago, Paula Niedenthal began to wonder what it really means to smile. The call came from a Russian reporter, who was interviewing Dr. Niedenthal about her research on facial expressions.
“At the end he said, ‘So you are American?’ ” Dr. Niedenthal recalled.
Indeed, she is, although she was then living in France, where she had taken a post at Blaise Pascal University.
“So you know,” the Russian reporter informed her, “that American smiles are all false, and French smiles are all true.”
The New York Times, January 24, 2011
When humans domesticated dogs at least 10,000 years ago, an apparent side effect was a bizarre new kind of parasite. A canine cancer gained the ability to spread from one dog to the next, creating new tumors along the way.
Today, it thrives in dog populations around the world. Scientists are now studying canine transmissible venereal tumors (or C.T.V.T.) to uncover the adaptations the disease uses to thrive in its peculiar way. In the current issue of Science, British scientists report that it upgrades its energy supply by stealing new parts from its canine hosts.
Continue reading “Canine Tumor Fuels Up by Stealing Parts From Host, Report Says”
“If I may throw out a word of counsel to beginners, it is: Treasure your exceptions! When there are none, the work gets so dull that no one cares to carry it further. Keep them always uncovered and in sight. Exceptions are like the rough brickwork of a growing building which tells that there is more to come and shows where the next construction is to be.”
—William Bateson, in The Method and Scope of Genetics, 1908. [pdf]
[Image: National Portrait Gallery]
Originally published January 22, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.
I don’t usually make pleas on the Loom. It doesn’t suit my journalistic nature, and if I make a plug for one cause, it may seem like I am cruelly indifferent to all the other good causes out there. In this case, I’ll just fall back on self-interest! A few weeks back two young film-makers, Sam Gaty and George Costakis, stopped by my house to interview me about synthetic biology for a documentary they’re making on the subject. They’ve been filming across the country for the movie, but it won’t finished in time for next year’s Sundance unless they can raise a little scratch to get them through the summer. Over at the fund-raising site Kickstarter, Gaty makes the case–and offers a clip about goats making spider silk. If this movie doesn’t get made, I end up on the cutting room floor. Oh, the humanity! (Actually, I think the film would be pretty cool without me–but judge for yourself.)
Originally published January 19, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.