This Thursday at 2 pm EST, I will be taking part in a virtual book party. The slots are filling up, but there are still some left. Register here.

What’s a virtual book party you ask? In this case, fellow Discover blogger Chris Mooney and I will each give a 15 minute talk about our new books. From the slipper-and-pajama’d comfort of your home or office (if you wear slippers and pajamas at the office), you can listen to us speak and behold our slide presentations in real time. After we’re through, there will be time for a virtual conversation between you and us.

The event (which will last about an hour) is hosted by the American Institute of Biological Sciences. They’ll be giving away copies of The Tangled Bank to two lucky audience members. Hope to some Loom readers can join us!

Originally published February 23, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

Open Laboratory 2009, an anthology of science blogging goodness, is out! Get your copy now. (Full disclosure–I’m in there.)

Originally published February 23, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

In my newest podcast , I talk to a kind of viral Indiana Jones. Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona chases down the evolutionary origins of viruses such as HIV and the flu no matter what it takes–including getting dangerously ill in the middle of a civil war. Check it out.

Originally published February 22, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

Plush Alien Facehugger out of stock and not back until mid-2010 ?? This is an outrage–let’s get to work, people!

Originally published February 22, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

A year ago this month, George Will wrote a howler of a column in the Washington Post about global warming, loaded with scientific errors and profoundly illogical arguments. It would not have survived even the most perfunctory fact-checking–despite claims from the Washington Post that his columns go through a “multi-layered fact checking process.” In subsequent months, Will has continued to offer new climate howlers, and this Sunday he provided us all with a dubious one-year birthday gift.

Continue reading “George Will: Time For Some Significant Fact-Checking” →