Attention, people of Yale, New Haven, and environs! I will be giving a talk Friday called “Science and the Media: A Match Made in Heaven, or a Cosmic Train Wreck?”

I’ll offer my bipolar musings on the once and future state of science journalism. It’s free and open to the public

It’s sponsored by the Yale Training Program in Biophysics, the Department of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, and the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism at Yale.

Here are the details:

When: Friday, April 23, 2010 4:00 PM
Where: Bass Center for Molecular and Structural Biology (BASS), Rm. 305
266 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT 06511

More information here. and here.

Originally published April 21, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

In my lastest podcast, I talk to Keith Klugman of Emory University about pneumonia–how its devastation worldwide is worse than we once thought, and how vaccines are proving surprisingly effective at keeping it in check. A pneumonia vaccine may even prevent a replay of the 50 million deaths during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. Check it out.

Originally published April 21, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

Some weird results on potential Neanderthal interbreeding are coming out. Nature News has a write-up. Hat tip, Vaughan Bell.

Originally published April 20, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.

If blogs could have mascots, the Loom’s would be the Emerald Cockroach Wasp (Ampulex compressa). Back in 2006, I first wrote about the grisly sophistication of this insect, which turns cockroaches into zombie hosts to be devoured by their offspring. Since then I’ve blogged from time to time about new research on this parasite’s parasite. Last year I sang the praises of the Emerald Cockroach Wasp on the NPR show Radiolab, and, to my surprise, brought some peace of mind to a very scared kid.

Continue reading “A Wasp Finds the Seat of the Cockroach Soul” →

Josephine writes, “My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer on Valentine’s Day. Happy V-Day, right?? She, being the eternal matriarch of the family, called each child individually and told us the news. She is VERY upbeat and positive, and so we are, too. I am a mathematics major in college and when she told me the news, my sister and I both wanted tattoos in her honor. At first I wanted a blue whale, it being her favorite animal, but I went with a heart curve. In mathematics, as I’m sure you know, there are 6 heart curves. This is just one of them, and the least ‘busy.’ I am proud to display it on my right forearm for my mother through this trying time.”

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.

Originally published April 18, 2010. Copyright 2010 Carl Zimmer.