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...
sick flu viruses
When you get sick with the flu you get infected with flu viruses and they make lots of new flu viruses, but those new viruses are not exact copies of the old ones. They have mutations in them. A lot of those mutations are harmful.
challenges viruses bigs
One of the big challenges now is to figure out just how many viruses there really are in the human genome. So far the estimate is 8.3% of our genome is virus, but it actually could be a lot higher.
survival viruses depends
We really depend on viruses for our complete survival.
thinking-about-you viruses stuff
About 1.2% of the human genome is made up of genes, things that encode for proteins, the stuff that we consider us. There is about 8.3% that's a virus. In other words we're probably about seven times more virus than we are human genes, which is kind of a weird way to thinking about yourself.
viruses hiv might
It used to be thought that only a certain kind of virus could get into our genome and it's called a retrovirus and that's a virus that might be HIV for example.
may flu viruses
We may be sucking in all sorts of viruses and we really don't know the full range of them. Maybe we've got flu virus inside of us. That's a possibility. Maybe we're part flu.
fighting years viruses
The reason that viruses are so hard to fight, the reason for example we need a flu virus every year is that they evolve very fast.
sick viruses sometimes
Viruses don't just make us sick. They can actually sometimes end up in our genomes.
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.
basic books checking fact freelance left moved since three
I started fact checking and copy-editing, basic stuff. Then I started writing books and articles, and left in 1999. I've been working freelance ever since and moved here three years ago.
closely compare dna fractions humans living related tiny
Really, all living humans are closely related to each other. If you take different people's DNA and compare it to each other, there are only tiny fractions of difference.
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.
driving flight fly time until waiting worked
I have been waiting to fly out of here (Jackson), but the flight times never worked until now. When the connections work out, it's a shorter time than driving to Memphis.
allowed appreciate came human learned science
I have learned so much about where we came from. It has also allowed me to appreciate the new science that has come out on human origins.