Science
writing
A selection of my freelance science journalism, technical writing, and children’s educational writing
Technical writing
NUCLEAR BIOLOGY
Antibodies.com
The cell nucleus is a richly complex and dynamic structure that supports a diverse set of functions.
WESTERN BLOT: THE UILTIMATE GUIDE
Antibodies.com
It may be surprising to learn that the history of the western blot only stretches back to the late 1970s.
Educational articles for children
THE GREAT DINOSAUR DEBATE: APATOSAURUS OR BRONTOSAURUS?
Twig Education
While hunting for fossils in the rocky hills of Como Bluff, Wyoming in 1879, paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh made a startling discovery. Hidden in the rock was the gigantic, nearcomplete skeleton of a long-dead dinosaur. The fossilized bones included huge vertebrae and gigantic leg bones—some of which were almost the height of an adult human! Based on the size and shape of the bones, Marsh concluded that he was looking at the remains of a new kind of sauropod dinosaur.
CRASH LANDINGS
Twig Education
Space is full of meteoroids—or objects that can be as small as a grain of sand or as big as 100 meters—comets, and asteroids, which are even bigger. Meteorites are pieces of comets or asteroids. When these pieces fall through the Earth’s atmosphere, we call them meteors. Every day, millions of meteors enter through the Earth’s atmosphere and quickly burn up.
Science journalism
SKIN CELLS PROTECT THEIR DNA FROM BUMPS AND BRUISES WITH A JELLO-LIKE RESPONSE
Massive Science
How do tissues “know” they should grow after exercise? Scientists have understood for a long time that these kinds of changes depend on the ability of cells to sense forces, including those created during exercise. Exercise isn’t the only time that the human body is subjected to forces. The cells in our tissues are constantly being pushed and pulled this way and that.
“INSECT DESTROYER” FUNGUS USES TINY, SQUISHY CANNONS TO FIRE SPORES
Massive Science
You may have heard of “zombie ants” — insects that are infected with a fungal pathogen that can control their behavior, coercing them into climbing to a high location to better spread fungal spores before meeting their end. But did you know that another species of pathogenic fungus, Entomophthora muscae or “insect destroyer,” could be harnessed by humans to act as a more environmentally friendly insecticide?