Carl Zimmer

@carlzimmer

NYT columnist. Signal: carlzimmer.51 Newsletter: Web: [This account includes a tweet archive]

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Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· 19h

How viruses travel around planets. A map of showing the arrival of H5N1 2.3.4.4b influenza in Australia. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· 4d

Our year in Cyclospora so far. cyclo-resources.pophive.org#trends-over-...

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· 5d

Here's a new kind of virus that scientists have generated with AI. And here's my story about what it means for us to have gotten to this remarkable moment: nyti.ms/4bBhoWB (Gift link) 🧪

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· 17d

Cyclospora asymptote cyclo-resources.pophive.org

Graph of cumulative Cyclospora cases by year. This year is skyrocketing

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· 27d

Here’s what I actually said. 9/10 web.archive.org/web/20130510...

Here's the trouble with the Up Goer Five craze, in way more than 140 characters. Yes, it's funny to see how difficult it is to explain something even somewhat complex using only the most common thousand words (or ten hundred, since "thousand" doesn't make the cut). But it seems that a lot of scientists who are sincerely interested in communicating to non-scientists have become convinced that Up Goer Five Text Editor offers useful training in writing simply about complex topics. This seems to me to be completely bonkers. Of course, I can't say "bonkers" in the Up Goer universe, because it doesn't make the cut. But you know what I mean. And my children know what I mean. Why? Because an average six-year-old has a vocabulary, by some estimates, of 16,000 words. And an average adult's vocabulary is around 60,000. So Up Goer Five is only useful if you are going to talk to pre-schoolers. For an audience that's any older--even second grade--I can't see how it can help. And the time people spend using Up Goer Five is time they can't spending developing their skill with metaphors and the other tools of language that make it possible to convey the gist of complicated ideas. I even get the feeling from some commenters that they see their failure to describe physics or genetics with Up Goer Five as a validation of their feeling that it's hopeless to even try. And that's the worst effect any writing exercise could ever have.

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· 27d

Harford claims that I called the Up Goer Five Text Editor “a disheartening waste of time for any scientist trying to figure out how to explain their field to a lay audience, because they would only learn that it was hopeless to try.” 🤔 6/10

The passage from the Financial Times quoted in my post

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Jul 10

The @nytimes.com Lost Science series continues. USG killed funding for Jessica Cantlon's study of cognitive skills, saying it was turning from basic to applied science. "There won’t be more discoveries, and we’ll just stop at what we already know," Cantlon says. Gift link: nyti.ms/4hbDmCS

Photo of scientist Jessica Cantlon sitting in front of fMRI scanner and computers. Photo by Jake Reinhart for The New York Times

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Jul 1

The quest for a synthetic cell has a deep history, including high-profile failures. In my book "Life's Edge," I wrote about how John Butler Burke became famous early 1900s for making "radiobes"--mixing radium with beef broth to create life. Turned out he was very wrong!

Illustration of supposed cells from John Burke's "The origin of life." (1906)

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Jul 1

Meet SpudCell, a synthetic cell made from lifeless ingredients that feeds, grows, divides, and experiences selection. If it doesn't have all the hallmarks of life, it has a lot! Here's my story. Gift link: nyti.ms/4vCbTih

A series of images of a dividing synthetic cell

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Jun 24

The latest outbreak of Ebola disease has surpassed 1,000 cases since April. We have almost no idea of where Bundibugyo virus came from. Here's my story on the search for the disease's reservoirs. Gift link: nyti.ms/4eHK2pO

Ebola viruses--blue on pink micrograph. CDC

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Jun 19

Can buildings fight airborne diseases the way they fight fires? I went to Washington to meet scientists showing off works in progress. Here's my report (gift link): nyti.ms/3SijML2

An airborne sensor detects dust mite proteins

A diorama model of a daycare center where sensors control ventilation to keep the air safe

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Jun 19

Can buildings fight airborne diseases the way they fight fires? I went to Washington to meet scientists showing off works in progress. Here's my report (gift link): nyti.ms/3SijML2

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Jun 17

Plague bacteria may have caused lethal epidemics 5500 years ago among hunter-gatherers--almost 5000 years before the Black Death. Gift link: nyti.ms/3SdK8hb

Artistic reconstruction of Baikal hunter-gatherers from 5500 years ago burying victims of plague. Credit: Kelvin Wilson.

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· May 27

You may recognize names like "Hantavirus" and "Ebola virus." But "Andes virus" & "Bundibugyo virus" may not ring a bell. I wrote about how recent outbreaks highlight virus diversity, and our difficulty putting names on it. Yet our survival depends getting names right. Gift link: nyti.ms/4dzRPqn

An Ebola virus (Orthoebolavirus zairense)

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· May 8

Harvard's Joseph Allen spoke this evening on CNN about possible airborne spread of the Andes strain of hantavirus. I can't find the clip, but here's his tweet about a 2020 study of an Andes virus superspreader event. x.com/j_g_allen/st... NEJM paper: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Apr 23

Spending on new medical research by the National Institutes of Health has fallen roughly $1 billion behind the pace of years past, delaying thousands of scientific projects. Story by Ben Mueller & @irenatfh.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/4ctOSqM

Graph showing NIH awards by year. 2026 lags far behind 2021-2024 average.

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Apr 22

Ryan knows of what he speaks. He personally weighed my genome and an onion's. As a human, I'm a genomic lightweight. Details here: nyti.ms/4sNBUsE

Graph showing my genome size and an onion's. The onion wins.

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Apr 22

PCDH11Y--I've got two amino acid differences, but fortunately in the disordered areas, so my protein ("proband") should work fine.

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Apr 22

Let’s do this!

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Apr 20

Bruce is a New Zealand parrot missing his top beak. It’s a serious disability, but he has managed to become the alpha of his group, through creativity. Here’s my story about Bruce and the mostly mysterious natural history of disability. Gift link: nyti.ms/4cwVGT5

A picture of Bruce, a green parrot, missing his upper beak. Photo by Alex Grabham

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Apr 18

A fair-skinned red-head person who has discovered he has a predisposition for melanoma only after unleashing AI agents on his genome.

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Apr 15

Until now, scientists have identified only a few dozen variants that went through natural selection in humans in the past 10,000 years. A new study claims to find hundreds--maybe thousands. Here's my story on the provocative research, and the mixed reception it's getting. Gift link: nyti.ms/4tSJH9G

A scientist drills a skull in search of ancient human DNA

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer· Apr 9

A three-decade long study of chimpanzees has revealed a primate version of a bloody civil war. It's now at risk of getting eliminated due to cuts at the National Science Foundation. My story here (gift link): nyti.ms/4mhr5NQ