I have been meaning for some days now to point your attention to my new article in the June issue of Scientific American called, “What Is A Species?” The hard copy is worth tracking down because it’s got a lot of excellent illustrations and sidebars. SciAm has the full article online for subscribers, and I’ve posted the text over at carlzimmer.com.
There’s so much I could say on the topic–pointing out how the recent news on polar bear extinction raises the question of how distinct polar bears are, for example–but I am scurrying in the shadow of a rising wave. (Attention people of Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle: please look at my book tour schedule!)
So let me direct your attention to a typically insightful blog post by John Wilkins about my article. John helped me enormously in understanding the nature of the species problem–especially its long tortured history.
After things settle down, I will take charge of my own blogging…
May 29th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Most interesting … thanks for posting the text. I’ll head to the library soon to see the sidebars and other items which you mentioned.
Also, I enjoyed the references to the Algonquin Park wolves. These are the ones that I’ve heard dozens of times; seen tracks, scat, and other signs of fairly frequently; and been lucky enough to see perhaps a half dozen times.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Thank you for calling the Science Blogs help line, mate. How can I be of Service, thank you very much?
November 10th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
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