Science writers discuss ‘sideways’ DNA at Harvard
Writing about science is often about finding the unexpected in the routine, as in sequencing numbers or molecules. Yet as author and journalist David Quammen and science writer and columnist Carl Zimmer know, writing about science can also be an art. In a conversation at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the two writers discussed the craft behind their art, as well as the stories that led them to their new books — “The Tangled Tree” and “She Has Her Mother’s Laugh,” respectively — both of which focus on genetics and recent developments in our understanding of DNA. (The event also celebrated the 10th anniversary of the “Evolution Matters” speaker series, which is now endowed through a major gift from longtime supporters Herman and June Suit that was announced Thursday.) Quammen began Thursday evening’s session by explaining that genetics is far from the linear, logical field we may have been led to...