Carl Zimmer's Blog - Posts Tagged "science"
Mixing Genes on the Tree of Human Evolution
Here's my latest column for the New York Times, about our ancestors trading DNA with Neanderthals a long, long time ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/04/sc...
Blurbs!
One of the best parts of writing a book is finally sharing it with other people. I've asked some of my favorite writers to take a look at
She Has Her Mother's Laugh
, and they've had some very kind things to say about it. Here are three:
“No one unravels the mysteries of science as brilliantly and compellingly as Carl Zimmer, and he has proven it again with She Has Her Mother's Laugh—a sweeping, magisterial book that illuminates the very nature of who we are.”
—David Grann, staff writer at The New Yorker, and author most recently of Killers of the Flower Moon
“Humans have long noticed something remarkable, namely that organisms are similar but not identical to their parents—in other words, that some traits can be inherited. From this observation has grown the elegant science of genetics, with its dazzling medical breakthroughs. And from this has also grown the toxic pseudosciences of eugenics, Lysenkoism and Nazi racial ideology. Carl Zimmer traces the intertwined histories of the science and pseudoscience of heredity. Zimmer writes like a dream, teaches a ton of accessible science, and provides the often intensely moving stories of the people whose lives have been saved or destroyed by this topic. I loved this book.”
—Robert Sapolsky, Professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, and author most recently of New York Times bestseller Behave
“She Has Her Mother's Laugh is a masterpiece–a career-best work from one of the world’s premier science writers, on a topic that literally touches every person on the planet.”
—Ed Yong, author of New York Times bestseller I Contain Multitudes, staff writer at The Atlantic
The book's out in May, but you can pre-order it now.
“No one unravels the mysteries of science as brilliantly and compellingly as Carl Zimmer, and he has proven it again with She Has Her Mother's Laugh—a sweeping, magisterial book that illuminates the very nature of who we are.”
—David Grann, staff writer at The New Yorker, and author most recently of Killers of the Flower Moon
“Humans have long noticed something remarkable, namely that organisms are similar but not identical to their parents—in other words, that some traits can be inherited. From this observation has grown the elegant science of genetics, with its dazzling medical breakthroughs. And from this has also grown the toxic pseudosciences of eugenics, Lysenkoism and Nazi racial ideology. Carl Zimmer traces the intertwined histories of the science and pseudoscience of heredity. Zimmer writes like a dream, teaches a ton of accessible science, and provides the often intensely moving stories of the people whose lives have been saved or destroyed by this topic. I loved this book.”
—Robert Sapolsky, Professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, and author most recently of New York Times bestseller Behave
“She Has Her Mother's Laugh is a masterpiece–a career-best work from one of the world’s premier science writers, on a topic that literally touches every person on the planet.”
—Ed Yong, author of New York Times bestseller I Contain Multitudes, staff writer at The Atlantic
The book's out in May, but you can pre-order it now.
New podcast! "What Is Life?"
As a science writer, I love reporting about the many wondrous forms life can take, from brilliant cephalopods to cunning viruses. But sometimes I stop and wonder about life itself. What is it? How do we define it? How do we know it when we see it? Why does it exist at all?
To explore these questions, I hosted a series of live conversations with some leading thinkers on life—including chemists, physicists, and a philosopher — at Caveat in New York City.
Now you can now listen to these conversations in an eight-episode podcast series, “What Is Life?”
Here are a few platform links:
iTunes
Libsyn
player.fm
RSS
You can also listen to them on carlzimmer.com and Medium. On both sites I've added show notes.
If you like it, please rate and review it so others can find out about it too. Thanks!
To explore these questions, I hosted a series of live conversations with some leading thinkers on life—including chemists, physicists, and a philosopher — at Caveat in New York City.
Now you can now listen to these conversations in an eight-episode podcast series, “What Is Life?”
Here are a few platform links:
iTunes
Libsyn
player.fm
RSS
You can also listen to them on carlzimmer.com and Medium. On both sites I've added show notes.
If you like it, please rate and review it so others can find out about it too. Thanks!
