A foggy feature
Here’s a longer feature article that I wrote for The Verge, a science and technology site that I read fairly regularly. The article is about researchers who are developing more efficient methods to harvest water from fog. In particular I focused on a new fog collector based on the beaks of shorebirds, but I also […]
When it comes to echolocation, some bats just wing it
My latest piece for NationalGeographic.com is about scientists discovering that some bats can echolocate using sonar clicks from their wings. In every previously known example of echolocation, animals such as bats, dolphins, some birds and even some shrews use some sort of vocal organ (larynx, tongue, ‘sonar lips’ etc) to produce high-frequency sounds that they […]
Article about an insect-sized flying robot for Motherboard
I wrote my first piece for Motherboard, Vice magazine’s online science & technology site. I just happened to find a pitch that worked well for them, and it was fun to write a more technology-related article after a while. The article is about the first bee-sized robot that can fly using feedback only from an […]
A science story from The Hindu that I sent in to the Science Journalism Tracker
The Hindu, the venerable Indian newspaper that I grew up reading (and that first introduced me to science journalism), still continues to publish plenty of science stories both online and in print. I found out about one of their recent stories on turning “light into matter” not from the story itself (which was quite confusing) […]
Curious Bends: a curated weekly list of India-related science and technology
Related to Indian science news, a couple of Indian science journalists (Akshat Rathi and Vasudevan Mukunth) have started Curious Bends, a weekly curated list of stories about India-related science and technology. They’ve been doing a great job so far, and I highly recommend you sign up here if you’re at all interested. I’ve enjoyed Akshat […]
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 […]
Lots of snow, no AAAS for me
I didn’t get to attend the AAAS conference after all…DC was hit by a snowstorm, and my flight was cancelled. On the plus side, it’s the first time I’ve seen this much snow in DC, having missed the last winter where there was this much snow. So everything does look different, and pretty. And from […]