Welcome back to Friday’s Elk, a newsletter about what I’m up to. Thanks for subscribing!
After a summer hiatus, I’m going to start sending it out again on a regular basis. I’m still debating whether that should be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. I want to find the optimal tradeoff between frequency and information. (I don’t think anybody wants daily emails that contain half a sentence each, nor does anyone want a once-a-decade tome.) If you have a preference, please let me know at carl@carlzimmer.com.
However it shakes out, I will stay true to the newsletter’s name and send it out on a Friday.
In this issue, I’m going to point to some stuff I’ve been up to since the last newsletter, and then let you know about some things to come. It’s an exciting time of change…
–I’ve continued to write my weekly “Matter” column for the New York Times. This week I wrote about the dramatic evolution that created cheese. More to come, of course. If you’re interested, please check out the Matter archive.
–Earlier this month, my brother Ben and I were subjects of a fun fraternal profile in the New York Observer.
–Looking forward, on October 9th, the second edition of A Planet of Viruses will be out.
–I am also starting a new gig as a national correspondent for Stat. Stat, a new online publication about medicine and the life sciences, was founded earlier this year by Boston Globe Media. It’s now led by Rick Berke, who previously worked as executive editor at Politico and assistant managing editor at the New York Times. He has assembled a great team at Stat, which will have its official launch in October.
I will be doing a mix of things for Stat each month (some writing, some other stuff). I’ll provide more details in Friday’s Elk next month.
If you’re in Boston next month (for Science Writers 2015, for example) you can join me at a panel on the launch of Stat at MIT on Friday October 9. Details about when and where are here.
–Taking a cold-eyed look at the work I’ve taken on–my Times column, my work at Stat, and a new book –I’ve realized I need to rejigger my workload or risk spontaneous combustion.
That’s why I’m putting the Loom on a break for the next year. National Geographic will continue to archive the Loom’s twelve (!!) years’ worth of posts. The science tattoo emporium is going nowhere. Eventually, I’ll be back. And, if you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and discover the delightful blogging of Brian, Ed, Erika, Maryn, Nadia, and Robert at Phenomena.
–Also, I have some talks coming up…
On October 21, I’ll be in Farmington, Connecticut, at the Jackson Laboratory, where I will give a public talk, “From Viruses to Whales, From Newspapers to Twitter: A Career in Science Writing.” Details here.
On October 24, I’ll be in Pittsburgh, talking about the future of DNA editing at the annual conference of the National Society of Genetics Counselors.
On November 13, I’ll be in Providence, RI, speaking at the National Association of Biology Teachers, where I’ll have the honor of receiving their Distinguished Service Award.
On November 19, I’ll be moderating a panel at the New York City Genome Center about how genomics has changed how Jews think about their identity. It’s free and open to the public. Details here.
On January 28, I’ll be speaking at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, NJ. Details to come.
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Best wishes, Carl
Originally published September 25, 2015. Copyright 2015 Carl Zimmer.