The New York Sun has a positive review of Microcosm today, and part of me just wants to point you in its direction, let you read about the book’s “ecstatically reflective moments,” and leave it at that. But there’s one puzzling passage that makes me wonder if some printer bent on mischief swapped my page 31 for one that I didn’t write. The reviewer observes, correctly, that much of the book is dedicated to drawing parallels between E. coli and us–and all living things as well. While he thinks this works for the most part, he thinks sometimes the comparison is “perhaps too glib.”

Continue reading “Wha..? or, Making Sense of Inscrutable Reviews” →

Julia writes:

“I got this tattoo done on Saturday. It’s the same set of footprints I use in the avatar for my blog (The Ethical Palaeontologist), but in fact they’re the narrow-gauge sauropod dinosaur trackways from the Ardley quarry in Oxfordshire. There’s no deeper meaning other than the fact that I’ve spent most of my academic career working on sauropod dinosaurs. But there are plans for more, if I could just get hold of a decent black and white illustration of a sauropod dorsal vertebra in dorsal view…”

Continue reading “Dinosaur Footprints” →

Last fall the Loom was awash in tattoos from scientists. Since then, I’ve moved them over to my Science Tattoo Emporium. If you haven’t checked it out recently, let me invite you over. Incredibly, someone sends me a new science tattoo just about every day. I post them as fast as I can, but I’ve still got a backlog. And most of them are astonishingly cool–both beautiful and enlightening. I particularly like today’s post, today’s post, an homage to Darwin’s finches. Plenty more where that came from. 

Originally published May 13, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.

Rachel writes:

“I studied geology for three years before I reached my major’s capstone course in paleontology. Therein, I became much more familiar with the subject that has since become my greatest scientific passion: evolution. Darwin’s breathtaking brilliance left me awe struck and I have since devoted much of my free time to studying natural selection, specifically, the origins of Darwin’s ideas. One of the basic foundations for Darwin’s discovery was the adaptation of different types of finches to various islands in the Galapagos. To commemorate my devotion, as well as to honor his genius, I got this tattoo of his first published drawing of said finches.”

Continue reading “The Beak(s) of the Finch” →

I’m heading to Boston on Friday to speak at the Harvard Book Store about Microcosm. It’s at 7 pm, and it’s free. Information is here. Then it’s on to Chicago, where I’ll be talking at the Field Museum on Saturday at 2. Here are the details. I hope some Loom readers can make it! (For those who don’t live in either fine city, please check my talk page.) 

Originally published May 12, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.