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carlzimmer
carlzimmer

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Mar 12, 2021

Is the Coronavirus Alive?

This essays is adapted from Life’s Edge: The Search for What It Means To Be Alive (Dutton 2021) [Order / Author site] It appeared originally in the New York Times Sunday Review on February 28, 2021. Last spring, coyotes strolled down the streets of San Francisco in broad daylight. Pods…

Coronavirus

15 min read

Is the Coronavirus Alive?
Is the Coronavirus Alive?
Coronavirus

15 min read


Dec 9, 2019

Some Science Stories Worth Reading

Here is a list of some of the stories and books I have assigned to students over the years in my class, “Writing about Science, Medicine, and the Environment.” I picked them for examples of story-telling, explanation, and bringing humanity to complex subjects. ARTICLES: Ross Anderson, “Pleistocene Park” Burkhart Bilger…

Books

2 min read

Books

2 min read


Published in The Startup

·Sep 29, 2019

Science Writing: Guidelines and Guidance

These are notes for a class called “Writing about Science, Medicine, and the Environment,” which I have taught for several years at Yale. I update them here from time to time. They are published under Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-ND) Structure In this class, we are writing stories. Without structure…

Writing

14 min read

Writing

14 min read


May 10, 2019

Seven Big Misconceptions About Heredity

She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity is available in paperback. This article, adapted from the book, originally appeared as the cover story in the May/June 2019 issue of Skeptical Inquirer. If someone says, “I guess it’s in my DNA,” you never hear people say…

Science

14 min read

Seven Big Misconceptions About Heredity
Seven Big Misconceptions About Heredity
Science

14 min read


Mar 6, 2019

One Twin Committed the Crime — but Which One? A New DNA Test Can Finger the Culprit

A handful of criminal prosecutions have stalled because DNA tests cannot distinguish between suspects who are twins. Then scientists decided to create one. — One night in November 1999, a 26-year-old woman was raped in a parking lot in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Police officers managed to get the perpetrator’s DNA from a semen sample, but it matched no one in their databases. Detectives found no fingerprints at the scene and located no witnesses. The…

Science

7 min read

One Twin Committed the Crime — but Which One? A New DNA Test Can Finger the Culprit
One Twin Committed the Crime — but Which One? A New DNA Test Can Finger the Culprit
Science

7 min read


Jan 31, 2019

What Is Life? #8: Can We Make Life?

“What Is Life?” is an eight-episode podcast series recorded in front of a live audience. (Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, via RSS, etc.) In this episode, I spoke to Kate Adamala, a chemist at the University of Minnesota. In her Protobiology Lab, she is trying to build a…

Podcast

1 min read

What Is Life? #8: Can We Make Life?
What Is Life? #8: Can We Make Life?
Podcast

1 min read


Jan 31, 2019

What Is Life? #7: Warm Ponds Or Hellish Vents–Where Did Life Begin?

“What Is Life?” is an eight-episode podcast series recorded in front of a live audience. (Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, via RSS, etc.) In this episode, I talked withDonato Giovannelli, an assistant professor at the University of Naples “Federico II.” …

Podcast

1 min read

What Is Life? #7: Warm Ponds Or Hellish Vents–Where Did Life Begin?
What Is Life? #7: Warm Ponds Or Hellish Vents–Where Did Life Begin?
Podcast

1 min read


Jan 31, 2019

What Is Life? #6: How Weird Can Life Get?

“What Is Life?” is an eight-episode podcast series recorded in front of a live audience. (Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, via RSS, etc.) In this episode, I talked with Steven Benner, a scientist at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, about how strange life can get. All the…

Podcast

1 min read

What Is Life? #6: How Weird Can Life Get?
What Is Life? #6: How Weird Can Life Get?
Podcast

1 min read


Jan 31, 2019

What Is Life? #5: Why Does Life Exist?

“What Is Life?” is an eight-episode podcast series recorded in front of a live audience. (Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, via RSS, etc.) In this episode, I spoke to Jeremy England, a physicist at MIT, about why life exists. …

Podcast

1 min read

What Is Life? #5: Why Does Life Exist?
What Is Life? #5: Why Does Life Exist?
Podcast

1 min read


Jan 31, 2019

What Is Life? #4: How Did Life Begin?

“What Is Life?” is an eight-episode podcast series recorded in front of a live audience. (Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, via RSS, etc.) In this episode, I spoke to astrobiologist Caleb Scharf, the director of the Columbia Astrobiology Center at Columbia University, about how life began. …

Podcast

1 min read

What Is Life? #4: How Did Life Begin?
What Is Life? #4: How Did Life Begin?
Podcast

1 min read

carlzimmer

carlzimmer

14.5K Followers

New York Times columnist. New book: She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity http://bit.ly/SheHasHerMothersLaugh

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