Scientists, writers and artists of all genres devote their creative lives to draw whatever they can from themselves. Rarely does the final product achieve the imagined vision. For most, including myself, the challenge continues from one effort to another, always banking on the possibility that the next result will be better than the one before. [...]
Lucky me! My novel, "Jellyfish Have Eyes," was well reviewed by Joel Shurkin (thank you!) in the National Academy of Sciences website and its journal, Proceedings of the National Academy - a rare case of a first novel not lost in the vast wasteland out there. But what I think is important is that he [...]
We tend to think about our life as a series of episodes or time periods that we remember – our childhood, college, marriage, children, grandchildren, profession, specific events, activities that mean a lot to us. This list will differ for everyone, but will be equally important for all. For some time now I have been [...]
Cracks have developed a bad reputation and are considered blemishes. Cracked implies broken, ready to be discarded. “He’s a crackpot! What’s he thinking – that he can part the Red Sea? That he’s Moses?” Such a crackpot needs to be avoided. We commonly believe that the crack damages the object, the bone, the appearance, the [...]
The snow has been falling all day in Bethesda, alternating between light and heavy flakes floating from sky to ground. I cancelled all appointments and took advantage of the luxury of free time to write, to think, to snap a few photos of the magical white blanket covering outside. Beautiful. Peaceful. Quiet. The day is [...]
"Every textbook of molecular evolution has a section on gene sharing, but this is the first book entirely devoted to the topic. Piatigorsky considers almost all aspects of gene sharing, provides numerous examples, and discusses the importance and contribution of gene sharing to evolution. He argues forcefully that gene sharing is widespread in many genomes. [...]
