Carl Zimmer
Carl Zimmer
Carl Zimmeris a popular science writer and blogger, especially regarding the study of evolution and parasites. He has written several books and contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times, Discover, and National Geographic. He is a fellow at Yale University's Morse College...
cutting animal discovery
Researchers keep identifying new species, but they have no idea about the life cycle of a given species or its other hosts. They cut open an animal and find a new species. Where did it come from? What effect does it have on its host? What is its next host? They don't know and they don't have time to find out, because there are too many other species waiting to be discovered and described.
sick viruses sometimes
Viruses don't just make us sick. They can actually sometimes end up in our genomes.
hands mind world
The hand is where the mind meets the world.
communication heart breathing
Today, when we look at a brain, we see an intricate network of billions of neurons in constant, crackling communication, a chemical labyrinth that senses the world outside and within, produces love and sorrow, keeps our hearts beating and lungs breathing, composes our thoughts, and constructs our consciousness.
successful dna viruses
Parasites are not only incredibly diverse; they are also incredibly successful. There are parasitic stretches of DNA in your own genes, some of which are called retrotransposons. Many of the parasitic stretches were originally viruses that entered our DNA. Most of them don't do us any harm. They just copy and insert themselves in other parts of our DNA, basically replicating themselves. Sometimes they hop into other species and replicate themselves in a new host. According to one estimate, roughly one-third to one-half of all human DNA is basically parasitic.
cannot catching cattle creatures digest drinking grow kitten learned milk nurse people start stop
The people that domesticated cattle and started drinking milk learned how to digest it as adults. Normally, creatures after they grow up cannot digest milk easily. For instance, a kitten will nurse and digest milk, but then will grow up, stop drinking it, and start catching mice.
ask calling interested learned neat opportunity scientific took wish
I wish I took more scientific classes, because I've always been interested in science. Most of what I have learned I've learned on the job. It's a really neat opportunity to learn by calling up scientists, some of which are world-renowned, ask them questions.