Boring wasp not so boring
I’ve been a little slow to post these past few weeks, just busy with summer activities. I wrote another story for National Geographic’s “Weird & Wild” blog, about the parasitic fig wasp’s metallic ovipositor tip. The wasp uses its ovipositor to pierce the tough skin of unripe figs to lay its eggs, and having a […]
Washington State mudslide’s speed may have made it particularly deadly
Wrote a quick turn-around piece for NationalGeographic.com on the devastating mudslide that hit rural Washington State last Saturday. While mudslides are fairly common in the US, and cause a lot of property damage, they rarely have this large a death toll: 25 dead so far, and 90 people still missing. This mudslide’s speed may have […]
Extinct porpoise had a pronounced underbite
I got to write about a fossilized porpoise that had a pronounced underbite, a feature that’s seemingly unique among mammals. Based on their study the researchers think the extinct California porpoise may have used its extended lower jaw to probe for prey on the ocean floor. The fossil itself has been with the San Diego […]
Getting into science writing: a BioCareers blog post
I had the opportunity to write a blog post about how to get into science writing for BioCareers, a site that seems to have lots of useful information about various career/job options for grad students and post-docs. I added my 2 cents about careers in science writing. I tried to emphasize how broad a field […]
How crazy ants live up to their name
Crazy ants (named for their strange, jerky walk) are displacing fire ants from the Southern US. Fire ants are notorious for their toxic venom, so researchers wondered how the crazy ants were able to overcome them. It turns out they’ve developed a neat behavioral trick, smearing their own formic acid venom all over their bodies […]
Back to work: Of bats and bumblebees
Well, I had a nice, relaxing, vacation in India. It was great to see friends and family after a long while, and enjoy the good food and warm weather. Now I’m back, well refreshed, and it’s time to get back to work. Right after I got back, I attended the 2014 Beckman Initiative for Macular […]
Writing, coding, and time for a vacation
I finished my last freelance story for 2013, a NationalGeographic.com article about a dinosaur fossil with a fleshy comb like that of a rooster. I also took a few lessons on CodeAcademy. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a quick primer on various programming languages, I find their lessons quite a bit of […]
Productive month
It’s been a productive first month freelancing, I got to work on lots of fun stories, mostly for NationalGeographic.com (I did some other assorted work, including for PNAS). I wrote about the fact that African elephants can apparently understand human pointing gestures, and how dogs react differently when they see other dogs’ tails wagging left […]
Science Notes 2011– features, podcasts, slideshows and videos
The 2011 edition of the UCSC Science Communication program’s Science Notes magazine came out a little while back, here is the link It has feature stories from my classmates and me, along with accompanying videos, podcasts, slideshows, and gorgeous illustrations by the science illustration students from our sister program. Here’s my story about family-forming lizards, […]
Published a Wired article on slowing light
Was excited to publish my first article for Wired Science last week! The article, which appeared on Wired.com, was about a new tiny chip that could slow light down at room temperature, thanks to some quantum physical effects. The article was fairly challenging to write, but thankfully the UC Santa Cruz researcher responsible, Holger Schmidt, […]