Darwin and the “mega-theria” of PatagoniaJune 25, 2009 – Richard Owen’s restoration of Glyptodon. From Brinkman (2009). Perhaps one of the primary reasons that there is so much to say about Charles Darwin is that he left us so much material to scrutinize. Outside of his famous printed works there are numerous notebooks and a staggering amount of personal correspondence which are constantly being […]
Reprogrammed stem cells carry a memory of their past identitiesJuly 19, 2010 – Imagine trying to rewind the clock and start your life anew, perhaps by moving to a new country or starting a new career. You would still be constrained by your past experiences and your existing biases, skills and knowledge. History is difficult to shake off, and lost potential is not easily regained. This is a […]
Adventure in 60 Seconds: Last Week in ExplorationJune 29, 2009 – Text by Tetsuhiko Endo The annals of modern history are filled with the names of English people who were willing to put themselves through a lot of hardship and danger in the name of adventure. But what about their northern cousins, the Scots? Any Jacobite worth his tartan will tell you that a Scot is…
Milestones in Wildlife PhotographyMay 11, 2009 – See milestones in wildlife photography in this photo gallery from National Geographic.
The Worm In Your BrainSeptember 03, 2010 – One of the most fascinating things about the history of life is the way distantly related species can look alike. In some cases, the similarities are superficial, and in other cases they are signs of a common ancestry. And sometimes–as in the case of our brain and the brains of worms–it’s a little of both. […]
The Genome At Ten: Two PicturesJune 15, 2010 – In honor of the tenth anniversary of the human genome project, here are a couple telling images, courtesy of Mihaela Pertea and Steven L Salzberg. First: a visual history of the estimates of the number of genes in the human genome. And second, a warning to anyone who believes in an iron law that the […]
From Souls to GenesJune 01, 2004 – I always like book reviews that combine books that might not at first seem to have that much in common. In the new issue of Natural History, the neuroscientist Williams Calvin reviews Soul Made Flesh along with The Birth of the Mind, a fascinating book by Gary Marcus of NYU. If you haven’t heard of […]
America By AirNovember 16, 2007 – Opening this Saturday, Nov. 17th, the new America by Air exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum is eye candy for the aeronautic-obsessed. You can step into the giant nose of a Boeing 747, play pilot in front of an A320 Flight Deck Device, or take a step back in history as you look…
Science and Politics: The Tale of George Washington's Swamp GasOctober 17, 2008 – My mother, on whom I depend for all my New Jersey history, passed on a delightful tale of George Washington, Tom Paine, and their passion for chemistry experiments. In early November 1783, Tom Paine paid a visit to George Washington in Rockingham, New Jersey, where Washington was waiting for news of the end of the […]
The Philosopher's StoneFebruary 17, 2008 – Leigh writes: When I was a PhD student in philosophy, I did a lot of work in philosophy of science. Not science proper, but after all, philosophy was (and is) the beginning of science. ;)Anyway, my tattoo is a riff on the history of both science and philosophy– the hermetic symbols for the Philosopher’s Stone […]
Evolution, Back on the BookshelfAugust 22, 2006 – I’m happy to report that the eyes are back. My third book, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, came out in 2001. It’s a survey of the history and cutting edge of evolutionary biology, from the origin of new species to mass extinctions, from the rise of complex life to the emergence of humans. The […]
Aristotle, Darwin, Watson, and Co. Now OnlineFebruary 05, 2004 – A while back I had the pleasure to join a team of scientists and teachers to build web site that explains evolution. Funded by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation, it charts the history of evolutionary thought (both before and after Darwin), and lays out the different lines of supporting evidence […]
The Tattoo That Wasn't ThereJuly 13, 2010 – Matt writes, “I took an alternate path to understanding the world from most of your readers. I switched from psychology to history in order to better research what really happened as opposed to what kids are taught in school. A concept that stuck with me and in fact is a critical reference point for me […]
Nature's WarehouseFebruary 12, 2009 – Photographer Justine Cooper has taken a haunting series of photographs behind the scenes at the American Museum of Natural History. Seed Magazine has posted a slideshow of her work, and I’ve written an accompanying essay on the hidden world that lies behind the dioramas. Check it out.
Update: Manahatta at the World Science Festival at a New Location SundayJune 12, 2009 – As I mentioned earlier, as part of the World Science Festival, I’ll be talking Sunday with Eric Sanderson, an ecologist who has just published the book Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City, based on his remarkable project to map out the ecosystems of New York on the eve of the arrival of Europeans. […]
Ganlea megacania and more “missing link” maniaJuly 01, 2009 – A somewhat tamarin-like restoration of Ganlea megacania. By Mark A. Klingler of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It seems that almost every time a new fossil primate is announced the first question everyone asks is “Is it one of our ancestors?” Nevermind that it is all but impossible to identify direct ancestors and descendants […]