Here’s the newly anointed best visual illusion of 2010. No fancy computer graphics. Just cardboard, glue, and some wooden balls. Fabulous.

[Update: Thanks to Sam Mackrill for directing us to the inventor’s web site, which includes building instructions.]

Originally published May 11, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

How should teachers use the media to teach students about evolution? Carefully! That’s my advice in a paper I was asked to write for the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach, where I take a look at the history of journalists writing about evolution.

I start way back, at the beginning:

Evolution has been news from the start. On March 28, 1860, The New York Times ran a massive article on a newly published book called On the Origin of Species (Anonymous 1860). The article explained how the dominant explanation for life’s staggering diversity was the independent creation of every species on Earth. “Meanwhile,” the anonymous author wrote, “Mr. DARWIN, as the fruit of a quarter of a century of patient observation and experiment, throws out, in a book whose title has by this time become familiar to the reading public, a series of arguments and inferences so revolutionary as, if established, to necessitate a radical reconstruction of the fundamental doctrines of natural history.”

If you want to read the rest of that 1860 article, you can find it here. And if you want to read the rest of my paper, check out thepdf I’ve posted over at my web site.

Originally published May 10, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

Attention, DC readers! I’ll be one of the speakers this Saturday at a meeting entitled “Science Writing: From Eureka to Digital Publishing.” I’ll be giving the “digital tools and techniques” talk. Don’t expect an html tutorial; I’ll be talking instead about how to adapt the fundamental of good science writing to new formats.

Continue reading “This Saturday: Science Writing at the Smithsonian” →

An anonymous reader writes, “I am a computer programmer and amateur herpetologist. On my leg is Henry, a North Brazilian Boa constrictor — rare in captivity at the time. I brought him in for photos before we began, and again after it was completely healed. As you can see in this photo, his colors were altered in the tattoo to stand out better. It took 20 hours over the course of 14 months to complete and was done completely freehand. Each scale was drawn individually. This photo is so special, since he’s posed very much the way he came out on my leg, tongue and all. It’s not like I could give him instructions on what to do.”

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.

Originally published May 9, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

While perusing the latest issue of the Journal of the History of Neurosciences, I was surprised to discover a review of my book Soul Made Flesh. It’s been six years since it came out. I guess the stack by their nightstand is pretty tall!

But I certainly don’t mind the wait when it’s a review like this:

This book is a joy to read. Zimmer has crafted a pleasant style, leveraging his talents that were cultivated during his time as a newspaper journalist. The texture of the pages and the typesetting suggest an old-fashioned printing and binding for the book; it’s pleasant to handle and easy reading. Several chapters are adorned with period illustrations by Christopher Wren. For anyone interested in the birth of contemporary medicine, social philosophy, and religion, this is a wonderland of enticing history. In fact, most people interested in this period of history will find the book is an entertaining read; one that is difficult to put down.

Fortunately, the book is also still in print six years later, so you can get yourself a copy if you’re interested. Since the book looks at the birth of neurology 350 years ago, it’s not out of date!

Originally published May 7, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.