Before abortion was legal across the United States, underground networks of women—such as the Jane Collective in Chicago—worked secretly to help end unwanted pregnancies. They used herbs, pills surgical procedures [CORRECTED 9-4-18], and homemade devices […]
While reporting for Nature about the decolonization of science in post-Apartheid South Africa, science journalist Linda Nordling found herself in an uncomfortable spot. Nordling, a native of Sweden, had long lived in the United Kingdom […]
BuzzFeed News reporter Nidhi Subbaraman knew almost nothing about the long and troubled history of tribal health care in the United States when she began covering the lawsuit that the Rosebud Sioux tribe was bringing […]
Every year, about 700 to 900 American women die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. And for every death, dozens more suffer life-threatening complications. It’s a shockingly high toll of maternal harm for a […]
Earth has a memory problem. Few rocks have survived from the first billion years of the planet’s history, when all kinds of important things happened, including—perhaps—the first stirrings of life. This amnesia has made it […]
In 2012, ProPublica reporter Marshall Allen came across a staggering statistic: The U.S. health care system wastes an estimated $765 billion each year. That’s about a quarter of the total amount spent on health care […]
Today, there are 520 pandas living in captivity, and fully a quarter of them are the descendants of an especially fecund and recently deceased individual named Pan Pan. Like an ursine cross between Don Juan […]
The western Amazon, which includes parts of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil, is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. The 6.7-million-square-kilometer [2.6-million-square-mile] region is home to 10 percent of the […]
On the campaign trail leading up to last year’s presidential election, then-candidate Donald Trump kept up a refrain that proved popular with his supporters: The election, he claimed, was rigged by fraudulent voters, many of […]
The worst thing about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the debilitating progress of the disease, which eventually leaves patients locked in their own bodies, aware of their decline but unable to move or talk. […]
Humans have been telling stories about themselves on cosmic timescales for at least a few millennia. But these narratives are usually found in epic poems, in the doctrines of the world’s religions, and maybe […]
Antibiotic resistance threatens us all. In many states, farmers contract with large corporations to raise tens of thousands of feed animals in close quarters. To prevent diseases from spreading among animals in tight quarters, farmers […]
How to Read a Scientific Paper
Thoughts on Voice: What It Is (And Isn’t). And How to Find Yours.
Storygram: Maria Konnikova’s “Altered Tastes”
How to Be (or Not to Be) an Advocacy Journalist
Including Diverse Voices in Science Stories
Writing When on the Autism Spectrum
On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness
Office Hours with Ellen Ruppel Shell
Going Digital: Inside New Science Journalism Outlets
Trading the Pipette for the Pen: Transitioning from Science to Science Writing
Asking for More: Negotiating Rates for Freelance Assignments
Adam Rogers Shadows a Fungus Detective
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