I’ll be yammering this week.
First stop on the yak fest, tomorrow morning, is over in New Haven, where I’ll be running the first session of a two-part science writing workshop for science graduate students at Yale. It’s my second year at this, so I’m hoping it goes smoothly. We’re going to record it and post at least some of it on Yale’s Itunes site as a free podcast. I’ll let you know when that becomes available.
I know you read every one of the Scienceblogs. But if you still have some extra free time to kill in an interesting way, check out my updated blogroll over to the left. It’s a selection of some of the blogs I check out semi-regularly. Here are details on a few of the additions.
All in the Mind–Natasha Mitchell hosts a radio show about the brain in Australia
The End of the Pier Show–Henry Gee, Nature editor, Tolkien guru, dinosaur maven, garage band monster…the list goes on
“Here are my two Copernicus/scientific revolution homages. I teach science at a public school in eastern MA. It’s nice to see the size of the subculture of science geeks that are also tattoo geeks.” –Chris
They’re two of the newest contributions to the my flickr set of science tattoos, but they’re two of my personal favorites. Check out all 131 images.
Originally published January 25, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.
So the news came out yesterday that Craig Venter’s crew has now synthesized an entire microbe’s genome from scratch. This does not send a chill down my spine. Does that mean I’m missing a piece of my brain? Judge for yourself, in my new commentary for Wired. (Also, check out Rob Carlson’s typically clear-eyed assessment.)
Originally published January 25, 2008. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.
WIRED, January 24, 2008
Yesterday the news broke, and it broke big: genome pioneer Craig Venter and his team of scientists at his eponymous institute had created a microbe’s genome from scratch. Massive stories ran in newspapers and magazines, tingling with the sense that we were on the edge of a revolution. Time’s piece was accompanied by a foreboding picture of Venter in a forest, wearing a dark coat and scarf, his beard giving his scowl a particularly dire look. The picture matched the story’s ominous mood: “He has gone beyond merely sequencing a genome and has designed and built one. In other words, he may have created life,” the article intoned.