Greetings. As I bring in my html luggage and unpack, let me stop for a moment to introduce myself and this blog.
I'm a science writer. I started out at Discover, where I ended up as a senior editor before heading out into the freelance world in 1999. Since then I've written for a number of magazines, and over the last couple years I've been writing pretty regularly for the Science Times section of the New York Times.
I also write books, which I've placed in the left column for those who are interested. I'm now trying to crank through the sixth, a biography of Escherichia coli (at least when I'm not bogged down in the mysteries of Moveable Type).
My interests may seem scatter-shot. I've written about lampreys, aspens, viruses, whales with legs, musical hallucinations, synthetic life, leeches, mole brains, tapeworms, snake venom, chimpanzees, chromosomes, malaria, jellyfish, colic, castrating bacteria, penguin waddling, slime molds, and brain-controlled robots. Among other things. I may well have an undiagnosed case of ADD, but I think that this random walk is not entirely random. What joins these subjects together is a fascination with life--four billion years of unimaginable biological luxury.