The world’s deepest zoo harbors clues to extraterrestrial life – my first piece for kids
I’m excited about the publication of my first piece for kids, about the World’s Deepest Zoo, written for Science News for Students. It covers the same topic as my Smithsonian piece from last year, i.e. life living deep beneath the Earth and the scientists who venture into underground mines in order to study them. Of […]
Ants, impostorism and a few more updates
It’s been a while since my last update, although this time I have a better reason than usual for being so busy-my wife and I were blessed with a lovely baby girl a few months ago! Between frantically trying to finish up assignments before she was born, and then being busy/sleep-deprived taking care of a […]
How the tiny parasite Toxoplasma alters its host’s behavior
It’s been a while since I received my PhD, but I finally got around to writing an article about the parasite I spent so many years studying in graduate school. That would be Toxoplasma gondii, a tiny intracellular parasite that infects just about any warm-blooded animal, including humans. My PhD thesis focused on how Toxo […]
How the gut “tastes” parasites, blood vessels “see,” and kidneys “smell” fatty acids and regulate blood pressure in response
In my latest feature for The Scientist Magazine, I wrote about how sensory receptors — the light, taste, and odor receptors that are primarily present in our eyes, tongues, and nose — are present all over the body, and have all kinds of functions. It turns out taste receptors in the gut and airway influence some of the earliest […]
An online feature about deep life for Smithsonian
I just got done with a Smithsonian feature on microbes that live in extremely inhospitable environments deep beneath the Earth’s surface, and the researchers who venture 2 kms or more underground in South African gold mines to study them. It’s hard work, but they’ve found a surprising diversity of life living in these deep environments, […]
Keeping busy, writing about molecular biology for BioTechniques
I’ve been meaning to update this website for a while, unfortunately I’ve been too busy writing articles to do so. Among other things, I’ve been writing regular articles for the journal BioTechniques. It’s been a nice way for me to keep in touch with the latest in molecular biology, a field that I haven’t extensively […]
When it comes to echolocation, some bats just wing it
My latest piece for NationalGeographic.com is about scientists discovering that some bats can echolocate using sonar clicks from their wings. In every previously known example of echolocation, animals such as bats, dolphins, some birds and even some shrews use some sort of vocal organ (larynx, tongue, ‘sonar lips’ etc) to produce high-frequency sounds that they […]
Boring wasp not so boring
I’ve been a little slow to post these past few weeks, just busy with summer activities. I wrote another story for National Geographic’s “Weird & Wild” blog, about the parasitic fig wasp’s metallic ovipositor tip. The wasp uses its ovipositor to pierce the tough skin of unripe figs to lay its eggs, and having a […]
Extinct porpoise had a pronounced underbite
I got to write about a fossilized porpoise that had a pronounced underbite, a feature that’s seemingly unique among mammals. Based on their study the researchers think the extinct California porpoise may have used its extended lower jaw to probe for prey on the ocean floor. The fossil itself has been with the San Diego […]
Axon: A game about growing neurons
Wellcome: Axon Game. Wellcome seems to have an interesting collection of educational web games. Axon, in particular, seems pretty fun to play (although my 5-year-old computer seems a bit too slow for it). They have more on their main games page. I was impressed with how well produced the games were, they all look pretty […]