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.

For nearly three years, the story of Abigail Garcia has woven its way through this blog.

Back in April 2008, I got an email from Garcia, at the time an 18-year-old student at Reed College. I had started gathering science tattoos, and she had one she wanted to share.

Continue reading “Requiem, revisited” →

January is playing hardball with the Nutmeg State. The rain and melting snow are creating their own special havoc (including power cuts in some places in New Haven). So the Ordinary Reading Series has been cancelled and will be rescheduled for the spring–once we get all our Noreasters out of our system.

Originally published January 18, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.

You may have heard about the new paper on how people tend to pick friends who carry a similar gene variant. If true, it would be very cool. But in Nature, Amy Maxmen quotes scientists who don’t like the study at all:

Continue reading “How many people are “not everyone”? Some thoughts on scientific debates and smackdowns” →