Quotessence
Home / Authors / Carl Zimmer Books
Carl Zimmer

Carl Zimmer Books

Science writer

Related Quotes

“It is true that humans have physical differences, and some of those differences are spread geographically across the plant. But clinging to old notions about race won't help us understand the nature of those differences—both the ones we can see and the ones we can't.”

RaceGeneticsHeredityWestern Society
Book:She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
Create image

“The stubborn inequalities in the Unites States are not the result of some people living in a physical environment. Their environment is built by social forces, and those forces last for centuries because they are regenerated across the generations.”

HistoryPsychologySociologyHistory Of MankindHistory Of The United States
Book:She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
Create image

“Parasites are not only incredibly diverse; they are also incredibly successful. There are parasitic stretches of DNA in your own genes, some of which are called retrotransposons. Many of the parasitic stretches were originally viruses that entered our DNA. Most of them don't do us any harm. They just copy and insert themselves in other parts of our DNA, basically replicating themselves. Sometimes they hop into other species and replicate themselves in a new host. According to one estimate, roughly one-third to one-half of all human DNA is basically parasitic.”

HumansSometimesHalfSuccessfulThirdsSpeciesHarmHopsCopiesHostGenesDiverseDnaVirusesParasitesOne HalfInsertReplicate
Author:Carl Zimmer
Create image

“Medicine allows people to live who would otherwise die, so antibiotics will let people survive infections that they might be otherwise very vulnerable to and even little things might make a big difference, so I wear eyeglasses because my eyes aren't particularly strong, before there were eyeglasses someone at my age would probably not be good for much.”

PeopleLittlesBigsMightEyeAgeDiesStrongDifferencesMedicineBe GoodVulnerableLittle ThingsInfectionAntibioticsEyeglasses
Author:Carl Zimmer
Create image

“Today, when we look at a brain, we see an intricate network of billions of neurons in constant, crackling communication, a chemical labyrinth that senses the world outside and within, produces love and sorrow, keeps our hearts beating and lungs breathing, composes our thoughts, and constructs our consciousness.”

WorldLooksHeartTodayBrainConsciousnessProduceCommunicationSorrowConstantBillionsSensesBreathingChemicalsOur ThoughtsConstructsLungsIntricateLabyrinthHeart BeatNeuronsHeart Beating
Book:Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain--and How it Changed the World
Create image

“Researchers keep identifying new species, but they have no idea about the life cycle of a given species or its other hosts. They cut open an animal and find a new species. Where did it come from? What effect does it have on its host? What is its next host? They don't know and they don't have time to find out, because there are too many other species waiting to be discovered and described.”

KnowsDoeIdeasScienceNextGivenWaitingAnimalCuttingEffectsDiscoverySpeciesNo IdeaCyclesHostResearchersIdentifying
Author:Carl Zimmer
Create image

“In 1494, King Charles VIII of France invaded Italy. Within months, his army collapsed and fled. It was routed not by the Italian army but by a microbe. A mysterious new disease spread through sex killed many of Charles’s soldiers and left survivors weak and disfigured. French soldiers spread the disease across much of Europe, and then it moved into Africa and Asia. Many called it the French disease. The French called it the Italian disease. Arabs called it the Christian disease. Today, it is called syphilis.”

TodayChristianLeftSexMonthsKingsDiseaseEuropeWeakArmyMovedSoldierSpreadMysteriousFranceSurvivorItalianAsiaMicrobesSyphilis
Author:Carl Zimmer
Create image

“At long last, we may be returning to the original two-sided sense of the word virus, which originally signified either a life-giving substance or a deadly venom. Viruses are indeed exquisitely deadly, but they have provided the world with some of its most important innovations. Creation and destruction join together once more.”

WorldGivingMayLongTwoImportantTogetherLastsCreationDestructionInnovationOriginalsSubstanceVirusesVenomOrigin Of LifeCreation And Destruction
Book:A Planet of Viruses
Create image