Acclaimed New York Times science writer Carl Zimmer investigates what current science has to say on the most fundamental of questions: What is life? What does it mean to be alive?

Carl Zimmer is a popular science writer and columnist, who reports from the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life. Since 2013 he has been a columnist at the New York Times. He is a popular speaker at universities, medical schools, museums, and festivals, and he is also a frequent on radio programs such as Radiolab and This American Life. In 2016, Zimmer won the Stephen Jay Gould Prize, awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution to recognize individuals whose sustained efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science. Zimmer has written on subjects ranging from viruses to neuroscience to evolution, including She Has Her Mother's Laugh, focusing on heredity.