May 2013
1 post
April 2013
2 posts
March 2013
5 posts
Pulling Life Out of Thin Air (Science Ink Sunday)... →
Jason Affourtit writes, “The encircling equation represents biologicalnitrogen fixation, which was at the core of my undergrad/graduate labwork. Working in that research lab (which was originally just part of requirements for med school!–my intended goal) totally changed my focus…So it’s an homage to that period of time, my wonderful advisor, and that lab. DNA has been central to my work life in...
February 2013
12 posts
January 2013
3 posts
December 2012
4 posts
November 2012
1 post
October 2012
2 posts
Why Is Your Blog Called "The Loom"?
In Moby-Dick, the cabin-boy Pip falls out of the ship and sinks deep in the ocean (emphasis mine):
The sea had jeeringly kept his finite body up, but drowned the infinite of his soul. Not drowned entirely, though. Rather carried down alive to wondrous depths, where strange shapes of the unwarped primal world glided to and fro before his passive eyes; and the miser-merman, Wisdom, revealed his...
September 2012
2 posts
August 2012
5 posts
July 2012
4 posts
clickspopsandwhitenoise asked: Oh my goodness! You are the man that wrote Microcosm! That blasted book ended up changing my major, hahaha. I went from slightly scientific 9th grader, to insatiably curious scientist in about 200 pages. Thank you so much for giving science that initial bit of entertainment, it hasn't lost it since.
June 2012
3 posts
Invisible Residents - NYTimes.com →
A diagram of the microbes that live inside of us, from my story in tomorrow’s New York Times.
May 2012
4 posts
April 2012
4 posts
