Earlier this year, Nature published Dynasty—my story about Bob Paine, who changed the face of ecology with his bold ideas, but also spawned an academic family tree that did the same. The piece was the culmination of a year of work and is one of my favourites. So, I was honoured when the good people at the Open Notebook asked to interview me about it.

The Open Notebook is an unparalleled resource, exposing the tips and tricks that make great science journalism great. Last year, I interviewed Adam Rogers for them, about the making of his award-winning piece on a whiskey fungus. And to interview me about Dynasty, they chose Carl Zimmer.

I’ve been reading Carl Zimmer’s books for