Wonderland

Behold, the Canine Tramp Stamp

Emily Anthes — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:13:09 +0000

Last month, I wrote a long essay on animal aesthetics for Aeon magazine. I explored how our pets have become aesthetic objects and examined how humans have used selective breeding, cosmetic surgery, colorful dyes, and even genetic engineering in order to create more attractive animals. It did not even occur to me to discuss tattoos. Because, well, why on Earth would it? Tattooing a pet was beyond my wildest imagination. But perhaps it should not have been.... Read more

Pet Cloning is for (Pun) Lovers

Emily Anthes — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:27:59 +0000

Since Frankenstein’s Cat came out last month, I’ve been traveling the country and giving talks about animal biotechnology. Along the way, I’ve been telling the story of a Black Angus bull named Bull 86. In the early 1980s, scientists at Texas A&M discovered the bull, which just happened to have a natural genetic mutation that left him totally resistant to several serious diseases, including tuberculosis, salmonella, and brucellosis (a nasty bacterial disease common among livestock). No... Read more

Meet Frankenstein’s Cat

Emily Anthes — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:23:39 +0000

First of all, many apologies for my recent silence here. But I have (I hope) a good excuse. My book, Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts, just came out, and it’s been a whirlwind. I promise to get back to real blogging soon. In the meantime, I thought I’d gather a bunch of my book-related information in one place. This isn’t everything–I’ve been doing oodles of radio interviews and podcasts, and there’ve been... Read more

Frankenstein’s Cat Book Tour

Emily Anthes — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:20:48 +0000

It’s hard to believe, but after three long years of work, the release of my book, Frankenstein’s Cat, is finally imminent! (It will be out on March 12. You can order a copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Powell’s, or the iBookstore.) My publicist at FSG has set up a great slate of readings and events for me. I’ll be all over the country in the next few months–I’d love to see you if I’m in your neighborhood! Here’s the... Read more

Wildlife Tracking Addendum (Multimedia Edition)

Emily Anthes — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:26:28 +0000

Last week, I had an op-ed in the New York Times about wildlife tracking–and how modern communications technologies can foster closer relationships with animals. I got some interesting responses to the piece, including pointers to a few interesting multimedia projects that tap into some of the ideas I discussed. So without further ado: 1. Much of the op-ed followed on the tracking of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park and the tragic death of a tagged... Read more

Silencing Epilepsy With A Flash of Light

Emily Anthes — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:11:09 +0000

Traditionally, scientists and doctors have sent messages to our brain cells in one of two ways: electrically (via electrodes or chips implanted in the brain) or chemically (hello Xanax, Zoloft, and Ativan). But one of the hottest new fields in science is optogenetics, in which scientists engineer neurons to fire in response to flashes of light. This improbable and astonishing development makes use of specialized proteins called opsins, which are naturally present in plants, fungi,... Read more

ScienceOnline and Book Galleys

Emily Anthes — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:45:27 +0000

I’m down in North Carolina for a few days for one of my favorite events of the year: Science Online. The gathering is a chance for all of us science journalists, bloggers, and communicators to swap tips and tricks, discuss the future of the field, and just do some good old fashioned socializing at the hotel bar. As you might expect, many of the 450 science writers who attend each year’s conference have recently written... Read more

Dog Tails and Social Signaling: The Long and the Short of It

Emily Anthes — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:49:34 +0000

My dog’s tail is a study in perpetual motion. It wags when he’s happy and when he’s nervous, when he leaves a room and when he enters one, when he stands in a doorway snorting at me in an attempt to communicate his desperate desire for a walk or a toy or a treat. Even late at night, when I’m reading in bed and he’s asleep on the floor beside me, I’ll hear the thwap!... Read more

Small Wonders: January 2, 2013

Emily Anthes — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:43:41 +0000

I thought I’d kick off the new year with a new installment of Small Wonders. In this edition: “olfactory white,” the end of mine-hunting dolphins, and what science owes the Twinkie. * Crafty spiders build decoy spiders to fool predators. * A Mars rover made of gingerbread. * A brilliant Twitter bot mimics Tourettes–and seems strangely intelligent. * The strange science of “olfactory white.” * How guns became gadgets (“Guns, unlike almost every other technology, are... Read more

Is Something Fishy In the White House?

Emily Anthes — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:31:38 +0000

See updates below. Jon Entine, the executive director of the Genetic Literacy Project, has an incredible story in Slate that explores whether political considerations have trumped science in the case of AquAdvantage salmon, an Atlantic salmon genetically engineered to reach its adult size twice as fast as unmodified salmon. AquaBounty, the Massachusetts firm trying to bring the fish to market, applied for FDA approval in 1995; twelve seventeen [[apologies for the silly math error!]] years later,... Read more