Ants, impostorism and a few more updates
It’s been a while since my last update, although this time I have a better reason than usual for being so busy-my wife and I were blessed with a lovely baby girl a few months ago! Between frantically trying to finish up assignments before she was born, and then being busy/sleep-deprived taking care of a […]
An online feature about deep life for Smithsonian
I just got done with a Smithsonian feature on microbes that live in extremely inhospitable environments deep beneath the Earth’s surface, and the researchers who venture 2 kms or more underground in South African gold mines to study them. It’s hard work, but they’ve found a surprising diversity of life living in these deep environments, […]
Keeping busy, writing about molecular biology for BioTechniques
I’ve been meaning to update this website for a while, unfortunately I’ve been too busy writing articles to do so. Among other things, I’ve been writing regular articles for the journal BioTechniques. It’s been a nice way for me to keep in touch with the latest in molecular biology, a field that I haven’t extensively […]
This Software Makes You Forget You’re Wearing Headphones — My article about 3D audio
I got a chance to write another longer piece, this one about 3D audio and how it can make headphones sound more like real life, particularly important for virtual reality and augmented reality. It’s been a while since I last wrote a tech-focused article, and this was also my first piece for Wired’s Backchannel publication. […]
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 […]
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, […]
Nature News published my story about a new underwater robot
Underwater robot can follow marine organisms over record distances: Nature News. Nature News published my story today! Follow the link above to read it. I’m obviously excited to publish a story in Nature, it’s been a dream of mine. And the fact that it was my first pitch to them makes it feel even more […]
Ultraviolet light reveals how ancient Greek statues really looked
Ultraviolet light reveals how ancient Greek statues really looked. It’s always interesting when the latest technology and ancient history collide. It turns out many of those pristine white Greek statues were originally brightly painted, and the reason they’re not colored is that the paint’s just worn away over the years. In the link above, Gizmodo […]
How Big Are Historical Things, Really?
How Big Are Historical Things, Really? BBC has this fascinating website that allows you to overlay a whole bunch of things over any map you choose (based on your zip code of choice). That includes historical things like the Great Wall of China, as well as more contemporary things like the current Gulf Oil Spill. […]
Regulating genetic testing, understanding probabilities, and knowing the future
Should we regulate people’s access to their own genome data?. More on the issue of regulating personal genetic testing, by Ars Technica‘s John Timmer. The headline is a bit misleading, since the issue is more about whether the “Direct-to-Consumer” (DTC) genetic testing industry should be regulated like any other medical tests or not. Definitely worth […]