A strange kind of time shifting is going on at The New York Times, which I guess I'm not complaining about, because the result is more coverage of science.
Last week, the science writer Carl Zimmer began a weekly column in the Times, but not in Tuesday's Science Times. Instead, it appears on Thursdays, when it is less likely to be seen, I would wager. Last week's debut column concerned the 17-year cicadas, now appearing on fence posts and in trees in the Northeast and as far south as North Carolina. Today's is on some of the genes that were crucial in the transformation from wolves to dogs. The column leads the science page on the web, but it isn't listed on the Times home page, as far as I can tell, which is too bad. If you want to be alerted to the columns, follow @nytimesscience on Twitter. Today's column was announced there this morning.
The other bit of Times time shifting occurs in the Sunday Magazine, where Michael Pollan has this Sunday's cover story, entitled "Germs," about the growing understanding of the importance of the microbes that reside in our guts, on our skin, and everywhere in and on our bodies. We each carry about 100 trillion of them–that's a one followed by more zeros than I care to type.
The story continues the remarkable string of science, medical, psychology, and environmental stories that have appeared in the magazine in recent months, including a special health issue a few weeks ago, and an environmental story on the cover a week later.
The time shifting occurs at the end: "A version of this article appeared in print on May 19, 2013, on page MM36 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: Some of My Best Friends Are Bacteria." The italics are mine. Today is May 16th. H.G. Wells would be proud.
-Paul Raeburn
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