#Microcosm carl zimmer series#

Similarly, Zimmer considers global warming as one of the biggest societal issues of our time, as our children and their children will inherit not only our genes, but this planet too, and states that 'We should think about tinkering with the future of genetic heredity, but I think we should also be doing that with our environmental heredity and our cultural heredity.' According to Zimmer there is a broader threat of these particular attacks on science, potentially eroding people's understanding of how science works in general: 'If people come to see science as just someone else's opinion, rather than a powerful way of knowing based on evidence, then all sorts of trouble may arise.' spreading misinformation about vaccines to worried parents, lead to needless outbreaks of disease that even puts children at risk of death. He says that each case of science denial is concerning, and that some, e.g. Zimmer has publicly expressed his concerns about science denial, noting that attacks on science 'are in a number of cases well-funded campaigns, and some politicians are backing some of them for their own political ends', where 'climate change, evolution, and vaccines seem to top the list'. Zimmer has taught a science communication course at Yale since 2017 and participates in other molecular biophysics and biochemistry courses. In 2016 Yale University appointed Zimmer Adjunct Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, stating that he is 'a world-renowned science journalist and teacher, and his ability to make science, particularly biology, accessible to the general public is without peer'. Zimmer has received a number of awards, including the 2007 National Academies Communication Award, a prize for science communication from the United States National Academy of Sciences, for his wide-ranging coverage of biology and evolution in newspapers, magazines, and his blog. Zimmer's 2004 article 'Whose Life Would You Save?' was included in the 2005 The Best American Science and Nature Writing series. In 20 he was host of the periodic audio podcast 'Meet the Scientist' of the American Society for Microbiology. Zimmer has twice been a spotlight speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival, in 20. He also presented at NECSS 2011 and CSICon 2018. In 2009, Zimmer was the keynote speaker at Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS). He has given lectures at universities, medical schools, and museums.

#Microcosm carl zimmer series#

Zimmer and the STAT team have put out 'Game of Genomes', a 13-part series that enlisted two dozen scientists, with the goal of exploring Zimmer's own genome.

Zimmer writes a weekly column called 'Matter' in The New York Times. It was transferred to Zimmer's personal website in 2018. The Loom has been hosted by Discover and National Geographic for many years, and has been invited to be part of Scienceblogs.

In 2004, he started a blog called 'The Loom', in which he wrote about topics related to his books, but later expanded it into what he terms 'a place where I could write about things I might not be turning into an article for a magazine, but were really interesting'. Zimmer left Discover after ten years to focus on books and other projects. In 1989, he started his career at Discover magazine, first as a copy editor and fact checker, eventually serving as a senior editor from 1994 to 1998. House of Representatives from 1991 to 1997. Zimmer's father is Dick Zimmer, a Republican politician from New Jersey, who was a member of U.S.

He is the only science writer to have a species of tapeworm named after him ( Acanthobothrium zimmeri). Zimmer describes his journalistic beat as 'life' or 'what it means to be alive'. Zimmer also gives frequent lectures and has appeared on many radio shows, including National Public Radio's Radiolab, Fresh Air, and This American Life. He is a fellow at Yale University's Morse College and adjunct professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University. The author of many books, he contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times, Discover, and National Geographic. Carl Zimmer (born 1966) is a popular science writer, blogger, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of evolution, parasites, and heredity.