Loom Junior

How did feathers evolve? Here’s an animation with my...

Fri, 03 May 2013 19:35:35 -0400

How did feathers evolve? Here’s an animation with my words and voice offering some answers. via TEDEducation

Ticks are exquisitely sophisticated blood-extracting,...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:21:34 -0400

Ticks are exquisitely sophisticated blood-extracting, pathogen-injecting tools. In the June 2013 issue of Outside Magazine, I give these little beasts their due.

(The Complex and Pathogen-Laden World of Ticks | Science | OutsideOnline.com)

This Thursday, I’ll be part of a Google Hangout chat about...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:02:23 -0400

This Thursday, I’ll be part of a Google Hangout chat about a remarkable fish (and a close cousin to us), the coelacanth. Details here: A most amazing fish: Join our Google Hangout about coelacanths on Thursday – Phenomena: The Loom

Pulling Life Out of Thin Air (Science Ink Sunday) – Phenomena

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 18:14:00 -0400

Pulling Life Out of Thin Air (Science Ink Sunday) – Phenomena:

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 genomics and has run through as a common theme. So to me, a G-C basepair seemed a natural symbol of that.”

You can see the rest of the Science Tattoo Emporium here and in my book, Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed.

Here is Martha, the last passenger pigeon. She died in 1914 and...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 07:38:00 -0400

Here is Martha, the last passenger pigeon. She died in 1914 and is now stored at the Smithsonian. Could fragments of DNA from her cadaver—and those of other passenger pigeon—allow us to bring the species back from extinction? I look at the possibility of de-extinction in the April issue of National Geographic.

Photo by Robb Kendrick

Single-celled organisms are evolving into proto-bodies made up...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:10:39 -0400

Single-celled organisms are evolving into proto-bodies made up of hundreds of cells—in real time.

(via Watching Bodies Evolve – Phenomena: The Loom)

American chestnut trees once dominated the eastern U.S., until a...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:54:44 -0400

American chestnut trees once dominated the eastern U.S., until a fungus wiped them out. Should they be altered to let them bounce back?

Resurrecting A Forest – Phenomena: The Loom

Tardigrade (water bears) are tiny animals that are so tough they...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:44:08 -0500

Tardigrade (water bears) are tiny animals that are so tough they can survive in space. (via Astronomy Picture of the Day)

Image Credit & Copyright: Nicole Ottawa & Oliver Meckes / Eye of Science / Science Source Images

A parasitic crustacean that replaces a fish’s tongue....

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:05:31 -0500

A parasitic crustacean that replaces a fish’s tongue. Details (including its odd sex life) here: Tongue-Eating Fish Parasites Never Cease to Amaze – Phenomena: The Loom

Photo from University of Salford

Scientists have just discovered a virus with an immune system....

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:14:10 -0500

Scientists have just discovered a virus with an immune system. See The Virus That Learns – Phenomena: The Loom

An illustration for Dune by the late great sci-fi illustrator...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:55:27 -0500

An illustration for Dune by the late great sci-fi illustrator Jack Schoenherr. More here: Images of Dune, Part 2: The Art of John Schoenherr | Bedford Book Connections

yaleuniversity: We’re thrilled to host popular science writer...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:23:20 -0500

yaleuniversity:

We’re thrilled to host popular science writer Carl Zimmer for an “Ask X” on the Yale Tumblr!

Here’s how it works:

1) Submit a question via yaleuniversity.tumblr.com/ask.

2) When Carl Zimmer arrives on campus on March 7th to give a talk at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, we’ll kidnap him, pose your questions, and turn the impromptu interview into a YouTube video for your enjoyment.

3) We’ll be choosing only the best 5 - 10 questions to ask him, so make them awesome!

Bio: The New York Times Book Review calls Carl Zimmer “as fine a science essayist as we have.” In his books, essays, articles, and blog posts, Zimmer reports from the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life. Zimmer is a member of the Yale College class of 1987, and is a lecturer in the Environmental Studies Program.

Blood flukes can live for decades inside us. Are stem cells...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:04:34 -0500

Blood flukes can live for decades inside us. Are stem cells their fountain of youth? Read about it at the Loom.

(Photo: A scanning electron micrograph of a male and female Schistosoma mansoni Credit: Jim Collins, Ana Vieira and Phillip Newmark)

10000000000000000000000000000000 viruses on Earth? Think more!...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:44:54 -0500

10000000000000000000000000000000 viruses on Earth? Think more! New at the Loom, my blog at National Geographic: An Infinity of Viruses

This is Diania, a strange animal that lived over half a billion...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:00:00 -0500

This is Diania, a strange animal that lived over half a billion years ago. See the whole gallery here:

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/18/weird-youth-animal-kingdom/

How a parasite grows extra legs on its host…and what that...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:12:20 -0500

How a parasite grows extra legs on its host…and what that tells us about protecting our own health. See: A Flurry of Frog Legs – Phenomena: The Loom

For the first time we have drilled a hole in Mars. (via NASA...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:46:43 -0500

For the first time we have drilled a hole in Mars.

(via NASA Curiosity Rover Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

A virus about to insert its genes into a microbe. One of...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 14:09:44 -0500

A virus about to insert its genes into a microbe. One of trillions of viruses that live inside us and may keep us healthy. More details at The Loom.

A startling 1941 public health poster. More TB posters at the...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 10:42:51 -0500

A startling 1941 public health poster. More TB posters at the Library of Congress here.

One of the photos that accompanies my new story in the New York...

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:01:10 -0500

One of the photos that accompanies my new story in the New York Times, “Pigeons, a Darwin Favorite, Carry New Clues to Evolution” (Photo by Robert Clark/Institute)