It’s getting harder and harder to remember what it was like to write about science in the pre-Web 2.0 days. Back then (i.e., 2004), I’d come across an intriguing paper, I’d interview the authors, I’d get comments–supportive or nasty–from other experts in the field, and then publish an article distilling everything I’d learned. It would take months or years for the authors to follow up on their work or for other scientists to publish their own papers attacking or supporting the original research.

How quaint. Let’s take a look at an experience I had yesterday. I was reading a blog called The Evilutionary Biologist. It’s written by John Dennehy, a scientist who works on bacteria and viruses. A couple weeks