Discussing Rick Santorum's sudden surge in the polls, tax reform, and the likely outcome of the Iowa cascuses, with Steve Forbes, Forbes Media chairman & editor in chief; Jared Bernstein, fmr. chief economist to VP Joe Biden; and James Pethokoukis, ...
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45820291/
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BEIJING (AP) ? China's manufacturing slowed in December for a second month due to weak global demand amid U.S. and European economic woes, a survey released Friday showed.
The latest HSBC Purchasing Managers Index added to growing signs of strain on China's manufacturers and exporters. They have been battered by a plunge in global demand and lending curbs that have driven thousands of entrepreneurs into bankruptcy, wiping out jobs and raising the specter of unrest.
The index for December stood at 48.7 on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 indicate a contraction in activity. It said companies reported a drop in foreign orders due to sluggish global demand.
"Weakening external demand is starting to bite," said HSBC economist Hongbin Qu in a statement with the survey.
The latest data will add to pressure on Beijing to ease spending and lending controls to stabilize growth and spur job creation, Qu said.
"Hard landings should be avoided so long as easing measures filter through in the coming months," he said.
China's export growth declined in November for a third month, falling to 13.8 percent from the 15.9 percent the previous month.
The slump in global demand has battered export-driven southern coastal regions, where thousands of small companies have been driven out of business and the survivors have laid off tens of thousands of workers.
Smaller private companies were hard hit by bank lending curbs imposed to cool inflation and a boom in housing prices. The government has promised to have state banks lend more to help struggling entrepreneurs but says most of its curbs will remain in place.
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Each year hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific articles are retracted. Most involve no blatant malfeasance; the authors themselves often detect errors and retract the paper. Some retractions, however, entail plagiarism, false authorship or cooked data
?| December 27, 2011
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Bad science papers can have lasting effects. Consider the 1998 paper in the journal The Lancet that linked autism to the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. That paper was fully retracted in 2010 upon evidence that senior author Andrew Wakefield had manipulated data and breached several proper ethical codes of conduct.
Nevertheless the erroneous paper continues to undermine public confidence in vaccines. After the Lancet article, MMR vaccination rates dipped sharply and haven't fully rebounded. This decline in the MMR vaccine has been tied to a rise in measles cases resulting in permanent injury and death.
Each year hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific articles are retracted. Most involve no blatant malfeasance; the authors themselves often detect errors and retract the paper. Some retractions, however, as documented on the blog Retraction Watch, entail plagiarism, false authorship or cooked data.
No journal is safe from retractions, from the mighty "single-word-title" journals such as Nature, Science and Cell, to the myriad minor, esoteric ones.
Yet as astronomer Carl Sagan once said, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Below are five science results retracted in 2011, pulled permanently off the books in part for falling far short of meeting the Sagan standard.
#5: Los Angeles marijuana dispensaries lead to drop in crime.
Keep smoking. The RAND Corporation retracted its own report in October after realizing its sloppy data collection.
Crime data compiled from neighborhoods with these highly contentious medical marijuana dispensaries supposedly revealed slightly lower crime rates. The authors attributed this decline not to marijuana itself but rather the presence of security cameras and guards in and around the dispensaries, having a positive effect on the neighborhood. [The History of 8 Hallucinogens]
The L.A. city attorney's office was incensed with the report, having argued the opposite ? that the dispensaries breed crime. The city's lawyers soon found critical flaws in RAND's data collection, largely stemming from RAND's reliance on data from CrimeReports.com, which did not include data from the L.A. Police Department. RAND blamed itself for the error, not CrimeReports.com, which had made no claims of having a complete set of data, and, in fact, didn't even know about the study.
#4 -- Butterfly meets worm, falls in love, and has caterpillars.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published a fantastic claim in 2009 by zoologist Donald Williamson, which was delightfully reported in the science news media. Williamson claimed that ancestors of modern butterflies mistakenly fertilized their eggs with sperm from velvet worms. The result was the necessity for the caterpillar stage of the butterfly life cycle.
The PNAS paper got a few laughs among evolutionary scientists, but it hasn't yet been retracted. Williamson's follow-up 2011 paper in the journal Symbiosis, however, has been retracted.
Researchers Michael Hart and Richard Grosberg at the University of Texas, Austin, systematically refuted all of Williamson's claims in the pages of PNAS by the end of 2009. They based their arguments entirely on well-known concepts of both basic evolution and the genetics of modern worms and butterflies. When Symbiosis published its butterfly-meets-worm article in January 2011, Hart raised questions with the editor. As of November the paper is no longer available.
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NetScouts Basketball has selected our National Players of the Week for the week ending on December 25, 2011.
Stanford forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike is our Women's National Player of the Week. Ogwumike, a 6-2 senior from Cypress, Texas, scored 42 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead the No. 5 Cardinal to a 97-80 win over No. 6 Tennessee Tuesday. On Thursday she only played 13 minutes in a 90-48 home win over Cal State Bakersfield in which she had eight points, four rebounds and four assists. Ogwumike leads the Cardinal (9-1) with a 24.0 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per game.
Creighton forward Doug McDermott is our Men's National Player of the Week. McDermott, a 6-7 sophomore from Ames, Iowa, averaged 31.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists as Creighton picked up wins over Tulsa and Northwestern. McDermott shot 70.3 percent from the field (26-37), connected on 5-7 shots from three-point range (71.4 percent), and was perfect in five free-throw attempts.
He began his week with a career-high 35 points on Monday as the Bluejays handed Tulsa its worst home loss (83-64) since 2005-06. On Thursday against a 10-1 Northwestern team, McDermott had 27 points, five rebounds and a career-high five assists in an 87-79 win.
Our Men's International Player of the Week is Gerardo Suero of Albany, a 6'4 junior guard from the Dominican Republic. In victories over Dartmouth and St. Francis (NY) Suero averaged 24.0 points, four rebounds and three assists. Suero is currently 6th in the nation in scoring at 21.5 ppg.
Carl Berman is a Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. NetScouts Basketball can be followed on twitter here.
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While record low fatality rates indicate that today?s cars are safer than ever, the latest crash test results confirm that some models still do a better job than others at protecting their occupants in a serious collision.
Thanks in large part to advancements in automotive engineering and mandated safety features like airbags and electronic stability control (along with stricter seatbelt and impaired/distracted driving laws) traffic fatalities have dropped by 25 percent over the last five years. Unfortunately they still accounted for a total of 32,788 deaths in 2010 according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Nowhere is choosing the safest auto available more important than when shopping for a small car, where every advantage is essential. That?s because the laws of physics dictate that, all else being equal, a smaller and lighter vehicle will tend to fare worse in a crash than a larger and heavier model. Compacts and subcompacts are becoming increasingly popular among cash-strapped buyers and empty nesters looking to downsize their rides; J.D. Power and Associates says they?re on pace to outsell midsize entries for the first time in nearly two decades.
Forbes.com slideshow: Safest small cars for under $20,000
Fortunately, those shopping for a small car for themselves or younger members of the family will find a burgeoning selection of models from which to choose that are rated as ?Top Safety Picks? by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). To qualify, a car must garner top scores across the board for performance in front, side, rollover and rear-end crashes based on ratings determined by the IIHS? evaluations. Vehicles are classified in each category on a basis of ?good,? ?acceptable,? ?marginal? or ?poor? performance.
?For the second year running a record number of models qualify as Top Safety Picks,? says IIHS president Adrian Lund. ?It?s tough to win, and we commend auto manufacturers for making safety a top priority.?
For testing a car?s crashworthiness in a frontal collision, the IIHS performs ?offset barrier? tests at 40 mph, using average-size male test dummies. Here, only part of a vehicle?s front end hits a deformable barrier, which simulates the front of another vehicle. This test is said to provide a good indication of how well a vehicle?s structure will be maintained in a crash to protect its occupants, particularly against injuries to the lower extremities.
Forbes.com: The best cars for the buck
The IIHS? side-impact test approximates the front end of a full-size pickup truck or SUV striking the passenger?s side of a vehicle at 31 mph. The potential for injuries are measured using test dummies that approximate a small female or adolescent child. The IIHS uses smaller dummies here because its data suggests that women are more likely than men to suffer serious head injuries in a side impact collision.
Rollover protection ratings are based on roof crush tests. To earn a ?Good? rating here, a vehicle?s roof must be able to withstand a force of four times its own weight before reaching five inches of crush depth. The IIHS estimates that such roofs reduce the risk of serious and fatal injury in single-vehicle rollovers by about 50 percent compared with those that merely meet the federal minimum requirement for crush resistance.
While deaths from rear-end crashes are relatively low they?re one of the most common causes for whiplash-type neck injuries, which result from the sudden jerking forward of an occupant?s head and torso. The IIHS simulates rear-end collisions using a combination of static measurements and active crash-dummy testing to determine how well the vehicles? seats and head rests support their occupants in a rear-end collision at 20 mph.
Forbes.com: Cars that can run for over 200,000 miles
The IIHS? list of Top Safety Picks among small cars with sticker prices that start at under $20,000 (including destination charges) has grown to 20 selections for 2012, up from just 12 a year ago. Newly added recommendations this year include the Chevrolet Sonic, Fiat 500, Ford Focus, Honda Fit and Insight, Hyundai Elantra, Scion xD and Toyota Yaris. Click on the gallery link to see the full list and photos of the IIHS? Top Safety Picks in this class.
Forbes.com: The most anticipated cars of 2012
Forbes.com: The best used cars for the money
Forbes.com: Most successful cars for 2011
? 2011 Forbes.com
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45791196/ns/business-forbes_com/
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TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) ? A resident of a city in western Libya says at least two people were killed after gunmen ransacked a home in search of a regime figure once loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.
Basem al-Tarhoni says angry residents in Tarhouna retaliated by torching the headquarters of some 100 fighters who helped topple the longtime leader from power.
Tarhouna was widely seen as a Gadhafi favorite, and its dominant tribe, also called Tarhouna, held many positions in the Libyan military. The city's residents are viewed with suspicion by former rebels.
Such clashes are a major challenge for Libya's new rulers.
The clashes took place on the same day security ministers announced a program for integrating former rebels in civil institutions. The ministers gave few details and offered no timetable for disarming fighters.
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Demonstrators rally to protest against election fraud in Moscow, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in the Russian capital Saturday in the largest protest so far against election fraud, signaling growing outrage over Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Demonstrators rally to protest against election fraud in Moscow, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in the Russian capital Saturday in the largest protest so far against election fraud, signaling growing outrage over Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Demonstrators hold Russian opposition flags during a rally protesting against election fraud in Moscow, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in the Russian capital Saturday in the largest protest so far against election fraud, signaling growing outrage over Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Protesters hold a portrait of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as they gather to protest against alleged vote rigging in Russia's parliamentary elections on Sakharov avenue in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. Tens of thousands of demonstrators on Saturday cheered opposition leaders and jeered the Kremlin in the largest protest in the Russian capital so far against election fraud, signaling growing outrage over Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)
A demonstrator holds an old Russian imperial flag during a protest against election fraud in the Arctic seaport of Murmansk, 1,450 kilometers (906 miles) north of Moscow, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. A demonstration in Moscow was even bigger than a similar protest two weeks ago, although rallies in other cities in the far east and Siberia earlier in the day drew smaller crowds than on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Andrei Pronin)
From left, Russian former Financial Minister Alexei Kudrin, leaders of the opposition Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny attend a rally to protest against alleged vote rigging in Russia's parliamentary elections on Sakharov avenue in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. Tens of thousands of demonstrators on Saturday cheered opposition leaders and jeered the Kremlin in the largest protest in the Russian capital so far against election fraud, signaling growing outrage over Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)
MOSCOW (AP) ? Tens of thousands of Russians jammed a Moscow avenue to demand free elections and an end to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule, in the largest show of public outrage since the protests 20 years ago that brought down the Soviet Union. Gone was the political apathy of recent years as many shouted "We are the Power!"
Saturday's demonstration, bigger and better organized than a similar one two weeks ago, and smaller rallies across the country encouraged opposition leaders hoping to sustain a protest movement ignited by a fraud-tainted parliamentary election on Dec. 4.
The enthusiasm also cheered Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader who closed down the Soviet Union on Dec. 25, 1991.
"I'm happy that I have lived to see the people waking up. This raises big hopes," the 80-year-old Gorbachev said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
He urged Putin to follow his example and give up power peacefully, saying Putin would be remembered for the positive things he did if he stepped down now. The former Soviet leader, who has grown increasingly critical of Putin, has little influence in Russia today.
But the protesters have no central leader and no candidate capable of posing a serious challenge to Putin, who intends to return to the presidency in a March vote.
Even at Saturday's rally, some of the speakers were jeered by the crowd. The various liberal, nationalist and leftist groups that took part appear united only by their desire to see "Russia without Putin," a popular chant.
Putin, who gave no public response to the protest Saturday, initially derided the demonstrators as paid agents of the West. He also said sarcastically that he thought the white ribbons they wore as an emblem were condoms. Putin has since come to take their protests more seriously, and in an effort to stem the anger he has offered a set of reforms to allow more political competition in future elections.
Kremlin-controlled television covered Saturday's rally, but gave no air time to Putin's harshest critics.
Estimates of the number of demonstrators ranged from the police figure of 30,000 to 120,000 offered by the organizers. Demonstrators packed much of a broad avenue, which has room for nearly 100,000 people, about 2.5 kilometers (some 1.5 miles) from the Kremlin, as the temperature dipped well below freezing.
A stage at the end of the avenue featured banners reading "Russia will be free" and "This election Is a farce." Heavy police cordons encircled the participants, who stood within metal barriers, and a police helicopter hovered overhead.
Alexei Navalny, a corruption-fighting lawyer and popular blogger, electrified the crowd when he took the stage. He soon had the protesters chanting "We are the power!"
Navalny spent 15 days in jail for leading a protest on Dec. 5 that unexpectedly drew more than 5,000 people and set off the chain of demonstrations.
Putin's United Russia party lost 25 percent of its seats in the election, but hung onto a majority in parliament through what independent observers said was widespread fraud. United Russia, seen as representing a corrupt bureaucracy, has become known as the party of crooks and thieves, a phrase coined by Navalny.
"We have enough people here to take the Kremlin," Navalny shouted to the crowd. "But we are peaceful people and we won't do that ? yet. But if these crooks and thieves keep cheating us, we will take what is ours."
Protest leaders expressed skepticism about Putin's promised political reforms.
"We don't trust him," opposition leader Boris Nemtsov told the rally, urging protesters to gather again after the long New Year's holidays to make sure the proposed changes are put into law.
He and other speakers called on the demonstrators to go to the polls in March to unseat Putin. "A thief must not sit in the Kremlin," Nemtsov said.
The protest leaders said they would keep up their push for a rerun of the parliamentary vote and punishment for election officials accused of fraud, while stressing the need to prevent fraud in the March presidential election.
Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov was among those who sought to give the protesters a sense of empowerment.
"There are so many of us here, and they (the government) are few," Kasparov said from the stage. "They are huddled up in fear behind police cordons."
The crowd was largely young, but included a sizable number of middle-aged and elderly people, some of whom limped slowly to the site on walkers and canes.
"We want to back those who are fighting for our rights," said 16-year-old Darya Andryukhina, who said she had also attended the previous rally.
"People have come here because they want respect," said Tamara Voronina, 54, who said she was proud that her three sons also had joined the protest.
Putin's comment about protesters wearing condoms only further infuriated them and inspired some creative responses. One protester Saturday held a picture montage of Putin with his head wrapped in a condom like a grandmother's headscarf. Many inflated condoms along with balloons.
The protests reflect a growing weariness with Putin, who was first elected president in 2000 and remained in charge after moving into the prime minister's seat in 2008. Brazen fraud in the parliamentary vote unexpectedly energized the middle class, which for years had been politically apathetic.
"No one has done more to bring so many people here than Putin, who managed to insult the whole country," said Viktor Shenderovich, a columnist and satirical writer.
Two rallies in St. Petersburg on Saturday drew a total of 4,000 people.
"I'm here because I'm tired of the government's lies," said Dmitry Dervenev, 47, a designer. "The prime minister insulted me personally when he said that people came to the rallies because they were paid by the U.S. State Department. I'm here because I'm a citizen of my country."
Putin accused the United States of encouraging and funding the protests to weaken Russia.
Putin's former finance minister surprised the protesters by saying the current parliament should approve the proposed electoral changes and then step down to allow new parliamentary elections to be held. Alexei Kudrin, who remains close to Putin, warned that the wave of protests could lead to violence and called for establishing a dialogue between the opposition and the government.
"Otherwise we will lose the chance for peaceful transformation," Kudrin said.
Kudrin also joined calls for the ouster of Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov.
Putin has promised to liberalize registration rules for opposition parties and restore the direct election of governors he abolished in 2004. Putin's stand-in as president, Dmitry Medvedev, spelled out those and other proposed changes in Thursday's state-of-the nation address.
Gorbachev, however, said the government appears confused.
"They don't know what to do," he said. "They are making attempts to get out of the trap they drove themselves into."
____
Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva and Jim Heintz contributed to this report.
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'Tis the season and whether celebrating with glee or counting down the days until the new year, even the occasional drinker will have reason to throw back an alcoholic beverage or two.
While you're home for the holidays, why not sample some cocktails from a few of our favorite H-town eateries? We've collected some of the best seasonal recipes for you to enjoy (without having to take the trip east).
No matter what your mood, from The Grinch Martini at Sullivan's to the Drunken Apple Pie Cocktail at Kata Robata, there is a specialty drink option for everyone on our holiday cocktail list.?
The Sparkling Cinnamon Apple Cocktail at Morton?s The Steakhouse is an interesting combination of Lunetta Prosecco and Lindemans Green Apple Pomme Lambic Beer. Served in a champagne glass, the green apple flavor is slightly tart.? It is offset by cinnamon, honey and a homemade whipped cream topping.?
For a sweet holiday treat made with pomegranates (good for you and tastes good, too), try the Pomegranate Breeze at Ra Sushi.? It is made with Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, POM pomegranate juice, PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur, pink grapefruit juice and other citrus flavors. Order this cocktail with the Seared Albacore Tapas and get the combo for $15.
Sullivan?s Steakhouse offers several creative cocktails on their drink menu this holiday season. Choose from the likes of The Grinch and The Merry Berry.
With your meal or for dessert, Kata Robata?s holiday drink offering is the Drunken Apple Pie.? It is Makers Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Snap (Ginger), simple syrup, Fee Bros. Peach Bitters, and Barkeep Baked Apple Bitters.
And if you having people over, try these recipes at home:
Get into the spirit with the Silver Belle from Cockspur Rum.
1 ? oz Cockspur Rum
? oz maraschino liqueur
? oz earl grey tea
? oz Hibiscus Grenadine
? oz pineapple juice
Shake well with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.
Brugal 1888?s Warm Cider and Rum Punch is sure to keep you and your guests warm.
8 cups apple cider
1 apple, thinly sliced
1 orange, thinly sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups Brugal A?ejo Rum
In a large pot, combine apple cider, apple slices, orange slices, cinnamon sticks, and ginger. Bring to a boil over high; reduce to a simmer and cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in rum.
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Japan's government declared that the damaged reactors from the Fukushima disaster were 'stable.' Not everyone is convinced.
The Japanese government announced that the Fukushima nuclear complex, heavily damaged by the March 11 tsunami in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, is now stable.? But serious doubts remain about Fukushima's status, as officials remain unable to confirm the status of the reactors' fuel and an undercover report impugns the clean-up efforts' efficacy.
Skip to next paragraphPrime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told a government nuclear emergency meeting that "The reactors have reached a state of cold shutdown" and are "stable," reports Reuters.? Mr. Noda and his environment and nuclear crisis minister, Goshi Hosono, both said that the situation at the plant is under control, though the clean-up may still take decades.? The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which operates the reactor and has been leading the clean-up, had been attempting to achieve cold shutdown before the end of the year.
The state of "cold shutdown" means that the water used to cool the nuclear fuel rods in the reactors is at a temperature below boiling, thereby preventing the fuel rods from overheating and emitting excessive radiation. The Japan Times reports that government officials said that the temperatures of the lower portions of the rods' containment vessels measure 38.9 degrees C in reactor 1, 67.5 degrees in reactor 2, and 57.4 degrees in reactor 3.? "If the authorities are correct and cooling of the reactors is stable, it would be an important milestone in ending the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl crisis," writes the Times.
But the Times adds that skeptics worry that the readings would be inaccurate if the melted fuel rods punctured their containment vessels and fell to the bottoms of the outer containment tanks.? TEPCO has not been able to take direct measurements of the temperatures at the bottoms of the containment vessels, and the site is still too radioactive for the fuel rods' status to be visually confirmed.
Even if the reactor is under control, the cleanup could still take 30 years, and the problems remain "immense," writes The Wall Street Journal.
Indeed, there can be few firm declarations about the plant's status. Daiichi's reactors are littered with debris. Many measurement and control systems are on the blink. Radiation levels are too high for people to get close to the reactors, leaving engineers and scientists to make important judgments using computer simulations, scattered bits of data and guesses.
And whether the cleanup effort is moving ahead is dubious, according to an undercover report by freelance reporter Tomohiko Suzuki. Mr. Suzuki worked at the Fukushima No. 1 site for a month as a general laborer while documenting a long list of substandard practices and unsafe behavior by companies involved in cleanup at the plant. He charges that "absolutely no progress is being made" toward resolving the Fukushima crisis, reports the Mainichi Daily News.
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Democratic Michigan Rep. Sander Levin told The Daily Caller that House Republicans are ?blinded by a rigid ideology? and suggested that they ?take the blinders off, come back here, see the light? and pass the Democratic-led Senate?s two-month payroll tax cut extension.
Watch:
?They?re holding the American people hostage,? Levin, the Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee told TheDC on Thursday at the Capitol.
Levin disagreed with experts who have said that a two-month tax extension is not workable.
?The IRS said it?s workable. It isn?t the easiest thing to do, but it?s doable. But the worst thing is to continue this uncertainty, that?s the worse thing. ? Everybody needs to get back here in the House and vote on the bipartisan Senate bill,? he said.
?The Republicans in the House are just blinded by a rigid ideology. They need to take the blinders off, come back here, see the light, pass a two-month extension and during those two months, we can work out any issue. At least try.?
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has urged the House to vote on the Senate?s two-month payroll tax extension. House Speaker John Boehner wants the president and the Senate back in Washington to negotiate a one-year extension.
?The Senate bill only goes for 2 [months], but businesses send in their taxes every 3, so employers will face costly reporting requirements,? wrote Boehner via Twitter on Thursday.
?We?re here, calling on the president and Senator [Harry] Reid to work with us to fix this mistake, extend payroll tax relief for a full year.?
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Click here for Part Two: Carl Zimmer Delves Beneath the Surface of Science Writing
??"Carl Zimmer" by Nathaniel Gold
Carl Zimmer is one of the most insightful and trenchant science writers working today. Whether he is delving into the soul of the scientific revolution or exposing the precise horror of parasites to reveal our relationship with the natural world, he evokes a passion for his subject with a graceful clarity of style. Unlike his literary icon, Herman Melville, he doesn?t adorn his writing with ornate flourishes or complicated scaffolding. His approach is simple, elegant, and potent, much like the microscopic lifeforms he so often examines. And, like these microorganisms, he is a marvel of adaptability and innovation. He is a Kavli award-winning journalist, Yale University instructor, blogger, and author of twelve books. But that?s only skimming the surface.
For those who are professional science writers, or enthusiastic readers of the latest science news, the name Carl Zimmer is well known. But what may not be as widely known is his incredible generosity and the passion he feels for his subject. He has the ability to turn complicated scientific topics into engaging stories that uplift a reader who might otherwise feel intimidated. At the same time he makes scientists familiar by revealing their own passion for the subject and bringing readers closer to them through a shared curiosity. Quite appropriately, given the topic he often writes about, the result is infectious.
I first met Carl in 2007 at the annual ScienceOnline conference and have learned a great deal from him both through his written work and our scattered correspondence. While all writers are natural observers, Carl is someone who listens. It is this combination of a keen eye for detail and the generous patience of a good teacher that makes his work such a pleasure to read. I had the opportunity to talk with Carl last week to probe his own passion for the art of science writing. It is my hope that others can learn from him as I have so that, together, we may continue to push ourselves and find innovative ways of communicating our shared passion for scientific discovery.
Carl Zimmer at Koshland Science Museum, Washington, DC / Chris Suspect 2010, Flickr
Eric Michael Johnson: The National Book Award-winning novelist Joyce Carol Oates has written that one of the most important influences on a writer is their early failures. What was one of your most meaningful failures while you were learning to be a science writer?
Carl Zimmer: When I first started out I got a job at Discover magazine. I was very young and one of the first things they had me do was fact checking. I was given a story about the potential health risks of power lines, something that was a big controversy at the time. Someone had written an article for us and it was my job to make sure that it was right. I thought I had done a good job, but it turned out there was one detail I had overlooked. It was a number on some figure about cancer rates. This was about fifteen years ago so some of the memories are a little fuzzy.
But what?s not fuzzy is my memory of what happened next. The editor-in-chief, Paul Hoffman, called a staff meeting for the sole purpose of raking me, and the senior editor on the story, over the coals. He wrote the number on a big white board behind his desk and went completely ballistic about allowing those sorts of mistakes into his magazine. It was quite humbling. This was not calculus, it was just a simple number that I should have made sure was correct. The mistake cast a stain on the whole story because people knew it couldn?t be right and it caused them to question everything that came afterwards. That, for me, was a pretty big stumble and it was an incredibly important lesson. It showed me just how easy it is to make mistakes and for errors to creep into articles, especially articles about science. You have to take that extra step and double check everything. My experience at Discover really drilled that into me.
Johnson: Part of what I love about your writing is the infectious enthusiasm you display for the topic. Had you always known you wanted to write about science? At what point did it strike you that this is how you wanted to spend your life?
Zimmer: I definitely did not know early on that I wanted to be a science writer. I didn?t even know I wanted to be a science writer when I was actually working as a science writer. I knew I wanted to write when I got out of college, but I didn?t have a clear idea of what I would be. I was always very interested in science and would have taken many more science classes if they hadn?t all been at eight in the morning. Fortunately, science turned out to be a very good fit. I haven?t considered writing about anything else ever since.
Linsly-Chittenden Hall, Yale University where Zimmer received his degree in English, 1987 / GK tramrunner229, Wikimedia Commons
Johnson: When you were first developing your voice as a writer, who were some of your most important influences? I know you were particularly fond of Melville and Faulkner as an undergrad at Yale. What did studying literature offer for developing your own style compared to the work of other science writers?
Zimmer: At the time I was reading Melville, Faulkner, or Mark Twain, I had vague ideas about writing fiction. That was my initial impetus for reading them. Gradually I realized that I was actually more interested in the natural world. It was at that point I began to appreciate really good science writing. I was reading people like Jonathan Weiner, John McPhee, or David Quammen, writers who could construct a sentence that left you breathless. But it was very important for me to have had that different experience in reading beforehand. It taught me how important it is to tell a story when you?re writing as well as all the different ways you can tell that story. These are elements you can bring into science writing to great effect.
The fact is there is a lot of science writing in great literature. I?m a big fan of Moby Dick, for example. Melville?s novel is probably a quarter to a third science writing. It?s the story of an obsessed captain going after a whale interspersed with long passages about marine biology, paleontology, even consciousness. It?s all science. But he writes about it in a style that can be quite humbling. When you read it you see how beautiful someone can make these descriptions of the natural world. I?ve always been frustrated with the flatness of a lot of science writing. I think that science writers should try to aim high rather than going for a lot of these clich?s you often see both in magazines and in books.
Johnson: That brings up a very interesting point. Communicating science offers some unique challenges for a writer. In fiction the exposition is usually hidden and the reader comes to understand a character through their actions. We?ll emotionally bond with that character and this pulls us into the story. But for so much of science writing, the science itself is the character. How do you effectively connect with a reader emotionally and, at the same time, provide the necessary scientific background to bring a reader up to speed?
Zimmer: That?s a great question. It?s really hard to articulate an answer to that because I tackle that challenge almost by a sense of touch or intuition. In terms of techniques for communicating that passion, I think part of what you have to do is make sure the beginning is completely captivating. You can?t start a piece with a lot of inside baseball. You have to remember that when you are writing about science you are ultimately writing about inherently fascinating and compelling things.
I just started reading a piece in the latest New Yorker about desertification called ?The Great Oasis? by Burkhard Bilger. He could have gotten into a lot of technical detail right off the bat describing the various debates about the causes of desertification. But what he starts with is a beautiful account of what it?s like when it rains in Oman. He just describes how the rain rushes over the dry, stony surfaces in this relatively obscure country in the Middle East. It?s absolutely gorgeous writing. He simply provides the reader with an image. What he?s basically saying is, ?Picture this. This is what I?m going to be telling you about.? Once you have people?s attention like that they will be willing to go with you a long way. It?s so important to bear in mind that big picture and not to get lost in the details. The details matter but they have to be fit into this larger scaffolding.
Johnson: Is it a matter of finding the emotional core of the story and opening with that feeling?
Zimmer: Yes. I don?t mean that you should be mawkish or sensationalistic, but every story about science has something that is truly absorbing. I think that?s what motivates the scientists themselves. Sometimes you can discover the way to frame a piece just be pushing scientists to explain why their research is so interesting. These are investigations that they?ll sometimes be doing for decades. Perhaps a few of them do it simply because it?s a job. But I think, for the most part, scientists are doing this work because they themselves have this intense passion and because they themselves find these things marvelous. You can sometimes find a way to frame your own story just by understanding the scientists? passion for the subject.
Johnson: When mapping out a book or feature article how much attention do you pay to the structure? Do you have a system for organizing the flow of ideas or do you rely largely on what feels right?
Zimmer: I try to see the story in my head. I approach stories visually, I?m not sure why. If it?s too big to see it all in my head I will get out a piece of paper and draw a bunch of boxes with arrows and so on. Because you have to have the structure. One of the reasons that?s important is it prevents you from making the story too tangled up and complex. I teach a class at Yale and when I?m teaching students I often find myself saying to one of them, ?You?re making the story too complicated. What is the one really important point that you want us to understand and how are you going to get us there?? Mapping out a story, either mentally or on a piece of paper, is incredibly important for getting that structure right.
Carl Zimmer and David Dobbs discuss their craft, ScienceOnline2011 / Ryan Somma, Flickr
Johnson: Who are some of the science writers working today that you think do this most effectively?
Zimmer: It depends on the genre. In books, for example, Rebecca Skloot and Joshua Foer have each come out with a book that does a fantastic job of mixing together hardcore science with personal experience in a way that is original and very compelling. [Editor's Note: See David Dobbs' piece "How Rebecca Skloot built The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"]. In terms of magazine writers, I mentioned Burkhard Bilger and David Quamman. I?ve also been impressed with a guy named John Colapinto who also writes for The New Yorker. He did a piece on this linguist in Brazil called ?The Interpreter? that I thought was fantastic. It was so deeply reported and so sweeping in exploring a scientist?s whole life, including his science. I was very impressed by that. There are also bloggers who are doing so many interesting things out there. I?ve read Ed Yong?s stuff from close to when he started and have watched him develop his own personal genre at his blog Not Exactly Rocket Science. In the very best sense he?s been making up the rules as he goes along. He?s got an approach that?s all his own.
Johnson: You?re a strong advocate of incorporating history into your science writing. My favorite book of yours, perhaps one of my favorite popular science books of all time, is Soul Made Flesh about the origins of neuroscience in 17th century England. But most of your writing focuses on contemporary research. What does the history of science offer when writing about the biology of fireflies or the viruses that kill thousands of people every year?
Zimmer: I think there a couple of good things that come out of utilizing history when you?re writing about new science. One is that, if you explore history it can make journalism more exciting. You can show how the work that people are doing today is helping to address questions that people have been struggling with for decades or even centuries.
One good example of this is the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome. It?s pretty cool when you read about what people have done in the last couple of years by putting together a genome based on ancient DNA extracted from fossils. But it?s much more profound when you look back at the 150 years or so of research about Neanderthals. When these fossils came out of the ground people were struggling desperately just to make sense of what they were. Were they human beings? Were they some other species? Were they our ancestors? Could they talk? Did we humans kill them off? Now we have an entirely new way of addressing those questions. Understanding this history just makes it so much more exciting and more profound.
The other way that history can be useful is that it can make you as a journalist more skeptical about the importance of new results. The fact is that people will come out with an experiment and then send you a press release announcing that it?s the greatest thing ever. But, if you know your history, you?ll realize that scientists knew this thirty years ago and that this latest experiment is just rehashing old results but with new technology. I think that the more journalists know about the history of science the better.
Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich discuss their award-winning RadioLab in New York / Pete Jelliffe 2006, Flickr
Johnson: As a writer who is constantly entering into new fields, where are you going to push yourself next?
Zimmer: One of the things I like is to get involved in projects where the medium seems very different from what I?ve been dealing with before. For example, I?ve been working with Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich at the radio show RadioLab and it?s just been fantastic. The way they turn science into sound and find a way to work within their medium is astounding. Twitter may limit you to 140 characters, but radio limits you to just your ears. You have to figure out how to work within these constraints and turn them to your advantage.
The weirdest experience I had was when I spent one long afternoon talking with Jad and Robert about the evolution of the eye. I was explaining all the new research on how eyes evolved on a molecular level. It?s truly amazing research. Then they took that, teamed up with the dance company Pilobolus, and incorporated it into a live performance. I was able to see the show in Berkeley recently. I was literally watching dancers on stage playing the part of photoreceptors in the retina, and they got it right. It was great! They managed to get across the molecular biology quite well. Afterwards, I was talking with one of the dancers and he was excited about how they could do more dances based on science. There are so many different ways of doing this job. It?s a very exciting time to be communicating science.
Click here for Part Two: Carl Zimmer Delves Beneath the Surface of Science Writing
Previous Interviews at The Primate Diaries:
? Frans de Waal on Political Apes and Building a Cooperative Society
? Lee Alan Dugatkin on Peter Kropotkin, Anarchism, and Cooperation in Nature
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DES MOINES, Iowa ? Newt Gingrich tried to quiet unrelenting campaign criticism that he acknowledged had taken a toll as Mitt Romney stepped up insider attacks Saturday in hopes of regaining front-runner status with the first presidential vote little more than two weeks away.
Gingrich, the former House speaker enjoying a late surge in the polls, pledged to correct what he said were his rivals' inaccurate claims about him. Romney, the ex-Massachusetts governor looking for a rebound, portrayed Gingrich as a well-heeled lobbyist since his service in Congress and predicted that conservative voters will reject Gingrich as they learn more about his lengthy Washington record.
"I'm going to let the lawyers decide what is and what is not lobbying, but when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, typically it's a duck," Romney said.
With the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3 up for grabs, most candidates are redoubling their efforts heading into the holidays, when voters generally tune out the race.
Gingrich is their prime target. Last week alone, anti-Gingrich ads from a Romney ally outspent Gingrich by an 8-to-1 margin on television.
Gingrich cited "the extraordinary negativity of the campaign" during a call from Washington with Iowa supporters. He said he was inclined to hold teleconferences every few days so people can discuss ideas and his campaign can "encourage them to raise any of these things that you get in the mail that are junk and dishonest."
"I'll be glad to personally answer, so you're hearing it from my very own lips," he said in the forum. "We don't have our advertising versus their advertising, but you get to ask me directly."
Romney campaigned in early-voting South Carolina, where tea party activists have given Gingrich a strong lead in polls. Romney told reporters that many voters now are just beginning to pay attention to the race and will turn on Gingrich after they learn about his time in Washington and his role with mortgage company Freddie Mac, a quasi-government agency.
Gingrich's consulting firm collected $1.6 million from the company. Gingrich insists he did not lobby for them and only provided advice.
"I think as tea partyers concentrate on that, for instance, they'll say, `Wow, this really isn't the guy that would represent our views,'" Romney said after a town hall meeting with South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott. "Many tea party folks, I believe, are going to find me to be the ideal candidate."
Gingrich said the attacks on his record have been brutal, but he insisted they are exaggerated.
"I just want to set the record straight," Gingrich told his Iowa backers. "We were paid annually for six years, so the numbers you see are six years of work. Most of that money went to pay overhead ? for staff, for other things. It didn't go directly to me. It went to the company that provided consulting advice."
It's a distinction without a difference, his rivals have said. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann continued to criticize his tenure as a consultant and Texas Rep. Ron Paul continued an ad accusing him of "serial hypocrisy" for taking Freddie Mac's checks.
During a Friday appearance on Jay Leno's late-night television show, Paul also turned on Bachmann.
"She doesn't like Muslim. She hates them," said Paul, who routinely clashes with his rivals over foreign policy. "She wants to go get them."
Bachmann told reporters in Estherville that was not true.
"I don't hate Muslims. I love the American people," she said. "As president of the United States, my goal will be to keep America safe, free and sovereign."
Texas Gov. Rick Perry rumbled through rural Iowa on a bus tour. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum stuck to a plan that has won him the honor of spending the most time in the state, yet has not yet translated into support in polls.
Iowa's largest newspaper, The Des Moines Register, announced its endorsement of Romney on its website Saturday evening. It was as much an endorsement of Romney as it was an indictment of his competitors.
"While other candidates have pandered to extremes with attacks on the courts and sermons on Christian values, Romney has pointedly refrained from reckless rhetoric and moralizing," the newspaper wrote.
The paper does not have a track record of predicting winners in Iowa. In 2008, the paper backed Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Four years earlier, it backed Sen. John Edwards' unsuccessful bid and in 2000 editors backed McCain and Democratic Sen. Bill Bradley. All came up short.
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who early on decided against competing in Iowa, was campaigning in New Hampshire. Huntsman, who also served as President Barack Obama's ambassador to China, has kept his focus on New Hampshire, where independent voters are the largest bloc and can vote in either party's primary.
As the Iowa vote neared, Gingrich's decision to take the weekend off from campaigning raised eyebrows given his rivals' busy schedules. Gingrich called the decision "pacing."
Gingrich has prided himself on a nontraditional campaign, but his advantages in the polls could shift if the only exposure to Gingrich comes through rivals' negative ads.
Gingrich's campaign manager noted the onslaught in a fundraising pitch to donors.
"With Newt's opponents spending $9 million on attack ads in Iowa, we need to quickly ramp up our messaging," Michael Krull said Saturday.
Anti-Gingrich ads, courtesy of Romney allies, dominate in Iowa. The Restore Our Future political action committee on Friday spent an additional $1 million on airtime, and broadcast almost $790,000 in commercials against Gingrich last week alone. Gingrich, by comparison, spent roughly 100,000 on broadcast and cable ads.
That looked to continue into the final week before the Christmas holiday.
Romney, who has kept Iowa at arm's length after investing heavily here four years ago only to come up short. His advisers note they have kept in touch with supporters of his 2008 campaign that came in second place in Iowa.
___
Hunt reported from Charleston, S.C.
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