At his website, Edge, John Brockman asks a big question each year and fields responses from scientists and writers (and scientist-writers).
This year’s question is “What scientific concept would improve everyone’s toolkit?”
My answer is, “Life as a side effect.”
As of this writing, Brockman has 155 other answers, too, so peruse and muse to your heart’s delight.
Originally published January 15, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.
The latest blizzard socked us pretty hard here in New England. If the streets and runways are clear enough tomorrow, I will be attending a conference called ScienceOnline in North Carolina for the next few days. One of the sessions I’m supposed to moderate is called “Death to Obfuscation.” Ed Yong and I concocted it as a workshop in which we would share our thoughts on good science writing. I’m going to lay out some of my thoughts here in advance, partly to clarify what I’m going to say–Ed and I are a bit nervous that what we thought would be a pretty basic session has exploded into a 60+-person crush, infiltrated by seasoned journalists. And if, on Friday, I’m still stranded here, the whole undertaking won’t have been a complete waste…
Here’s my quick visit to TV land this afternoon. I do wonder why my face is in a permanent scowl. On the inside, I can be very cheerful, honest!
Originally published January 11, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.
Another week, another snowpocalypse.
With a foot of snow looking like a sure thing tomorrow, the Guilford Free Library has rescheduled my upcoming talk to Monday, January 24.
As I mentioned yesterday, the talk is called, “Step Inside Your Brain.” I’ll be discussing some of the cooler nooks and crannies of our skulls, drawing partly on my new ebook, Brain Cuttings.
The talk is free, but you’re encouraged to reserve a spot. For more details, check out the library web site.
Originally published January 11, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.
I’ll be on MSNBC at 3:30 pm EST on Tuesday (1/10 11) to talk about the future of our brains, based on this excerpt from Brain Cuttings. I’ll post the web archive once/if they put it online.
Originally published January 10, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.