I am a bone geek, I confess. On my bookshelves are a bunch of coffee-table books full of skulls, femurs, and xyphoid processes. They include From Lucy To Language, loaded with hominid remains, Human Bones for our current anatomy, and Fossils for a quick hit of Deep Time. An excellent addition to this sub-sub-genre is called, simply, Evolution. It’s loaded with gorgeous pictures of vertebrate skeletons (including this angler). In today’s New York Times, I have a photoessay with several other selections. You can check out a slide show here.

Update: I forgot to mention that I talk about the photoessay at the top of this week’s NY Times Science podcast.

Continue reading “Bony Beauties” →

I’ve updated the talks page on my web site after a long stretch of neglect. I’ve included links to podcasts and video of previous appearances, and what information I have at this point about upcoming talks. It’s going to be a fairly busy spring, with talks hither and yon on extinctions, whales, Darwin, and science writing. And that doesn’t even include talking about my next book, Microcosm.

Anyone interested in having me give a lecture or interview about Microcosm when it comes out in the spring is welcome get in touch. Knopf Speakers Bureau can handle requests for lectures on other topics.

Continue reading “Talking, Past and Future” →

Sorry about the mistake on the last post’s headline. (Vengeans? Sort of like vengeful vegans?) Spell-checkers have turned my brain to mush. 

Originally published November 2, 2007. Copyright 2007 Carl Zimmer.

“Here is a picture of my serotonin tattoo. I don’t know that it needs much more explanation than it’s my favorite neurotransmitter.”–Hayley

I thought there were more science tattoo out there. Last week brought nothing, but this week brought the collection up to 85. 

Originally published November 2, 2007. Copyright 2007 Carl Zimmer.

For those who may have come to the Loom after seeing me talking about autumn leaves on ABC News this evening, you can learn more about the science in these posts (plus this article I wrote for the New York Times).

Scientists continue to investigate why leaves change colors–check out this new post yesterday from Voltage Gate.

(I should also clarify that the damage leaves suffer in the fall can come from charged atoms within the leaf, rather than directly from the sun’s photons.)

Update: Link to the ABC news segment added.

Continue reading “Fall Foliage: The Backstory” →