Science Writing Articles

Many of my articles are multi-disciplinary, but here they are sorted into broad categories. You can jump to “Astronomy“, “Physics”, “Geology“, “Science and Technology – Ethics, Philosophy, and Society“, “Climate Change and the Environment”, “Neuroscience, The Mind and Consciousness“, “AI“, “Society and Being Human“, “Technology and Society“, and “Chemistry, Biology, and Other Topics“.

Galaxy

Astronomy

How Black Holes Help Stars Form, Physics Magazine, February 2025
Satellite images capture Hurricane Milton intensifying into Category 5 storm, space.com, October 2024
The Bizarre Shape of our Universe, Up and Atom, September 2024
A Time Standard for the Moon—Thanks to General Relativity, Physics Magazine, September 2024
In Search of the Most Massive Star, Sky and Telescope, August 2024
Learn about Space with these awesome NASA education videos, space.com, July 2024
What are blazars?, space.com, July 2024
Gravitational-Wave Memory May Illustrate Spacetime Symmetries, Physics Magazine, June 2024
Life lessons from hell-house Venus“, Nautilus, June 2024
Some White Dwarfs Might be Older than Previously Thought, Physics Magazine, April 2024
Will the constellations ever change?, space.com, April 2024
Dark energy: a brief history, Sky and Telescope, February 2024
Life beyond Earth may form in the coldest depths of space, Ryugu asteroid samples reveal, space.com, December 2023
Watch the ‘Christmas Tree Cluster’ twinkle in X-rays, space.com, December 2023
Historic magnetic storms help scientists learn what to expect when one hits, space.com, December 2023
Data science helps cross-check space discoveries ‘across time and telescopes’, space.com, November 2023
Watch this Jupiter moon lander handle harsh terrain it may face on Europa, space.com, November 2023
Wonder what it’s like to fall into Uranus? These scientists do, too, space.com, November 2023
NASA’s SPHEREx mission aims to map 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars, space.com, November 2023
Celebrating Dark Matter Day in Latin America, Symmetry, October 2023
Could you stand on the surface of Jupiter? Exploring the enigmatic outer planets, Big Think, June 2023
Life might exist between eternal day and eternal night on tidally locked planets, Big Think, April 2023
The 8 best hidden impact craters on Earth, Big Think, March 2023
Rubble pile asteroids are really hard to break, Big Think, February 2023
Mars “earthquakes”: Red Planet might have more seismic activity than we ever expected, Big Think, June 2022
Why is Titan’s landscape so Earth-like despite its different composition?, Big Think, May 2022
No music on Mars: Sound is different on the red planet, May 2022
Cryovolcanoes: How ice volcanoes reshaped the surface of Pluto,Big Think,
What leaking helium-3 gas can tell us about Earth’s origin, Big Think, April 2022
Gravitational waves could be “pushing” the Moon,Freethink, April 2022
Why Mercury could be encrusted with diamonds, Big Think, April 2022
How Mars lost its magnetic field — and then its oceans, Big Think, September 2023
How astronomers piece together surfaces of invisible alien worlds, Big Think, November 2021
How To Not Be Fooled When Looking For Life On Mars, Forbes.com, November 2021
Signal From The XENON1T Experiment May Be A Hallmark Of Dark Energy, Forbes.com, October 2021
A Massive Meteor May Have Destroyed The Biblical City Of Sodom, Forbes.com, September 2021
Doomed From The Start, Mars May Have Never Had Enough Water For Life, Forbes.com, September 2021
What Stars Host Planets That Would Be Able To See Earth?, Forbes.com, October 2020
How Can We Find Life Within the Solar System?, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2020
Universe May Have Started In A Big Bounce Rather Than A Big Bang, Scientists Say, Forbes.com, August 2020
New Experiment Shows How To Get Energy From A Black Hole, Forbes.com, June 2020
Scientists Move To Find Alien Civilizations Using “Technosignatures”, Forbes.com, June 2020
Our Universe Is Expanding In Strange Ways – And This New Type Of Dark Matter Could Help Explain It, Forbes.com, May 2020
Think Our Sun Is A Nice, Constant Star? Changes Might Be Coming., Forbes.com, May 2020
Meet The New Members Of Our Solar System, Forbes.com, April 2020
Under One Sky, We’re Never Alone, Forbes.com, April 2020
The VLA And SETI Team Up To Find Advanced Life In The Universe, Forbes.com, February 2020
How We Found Out Meteors Are Actually Little Rocks From Space Burning Up In The Atmosphere, SparkDialog Podcasts, February 2020
Climate Change on Alien Worlds, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2019
The Future of the Universe, SparkDialog Podcasts, March 2019
Let There be Light: First Stars and Cosmic Dawn, SparkDialog Podcasts, August 2018
Space Junk, Trash on the Moon, and the Earth’s Copper Ring, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2018
The Solar Eclipse – Awe, Wonder, and Science, SparkDialog Podcasts, August 2017
A Slice of Life, SparkDialog Podcasts, July 2017
Volcanoes – Making Your Planet Habitable for 4.6 Billion Years, SparkDialog Podcasts, March 2017
World Upon World, Universe Upon Universe, SparkDialog Podcasts, February 2017
Galactic Cannibalism, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2016
The Future Universe – Teeming with Life?, SparkDialog Podcasts, August 2016
Hello Jupiter! It’s Juno, SparkDialog Podcasts, July 2016
An Explosion from Across the Universe, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2016
Astronomy… With A Canon!, SparkDialog Podcasts, March 2016

Strip of squares bent inward

Physics

Lab-Created Aurora Highlights New Polymer Physics, Physics Magazine, March 2025
Predicting the Behavior of Knitted Fabrics, Physics Magazine, December 2024
What is quantum gravity?, space.com, July 2024
How to Charge Up a Sliding Water Drop, Physics Magazine, May 2024
Quantum biology: Your nose and house plant are experts at particle physics, Big Think, July 2023
Plants perform quantum mechanics feats that scientists can only do at ultra-cold temperatures, Big Think, May 2023
Quantum sensors use “spooky” science to measure the world with unprecedented precision, Big Think, October 2022
Practical physics: How quantum uncertainty will make our communications secure, Big Think, October 2022
What Einstein and Bohr’s debate over quantum entanglement taught us about reality, Big Think, October 2022
Could we use quantum communication to talk to aliens?, Big Think, July 2022
Scientists may finally know why the length of a day changes, Big Think, July 2022
No music on Mars: Sound is different on the red planet, Big Think, May 2022
Particles Change Identities In The First Potentially Observed “Triangle Singularity”, Forbes.com, September 2021
Now Time Travel Can Be Paradox-Free, Thanks To Math, Forbes.com, October 2020
Two Different Macroscopic Objects Have Been Put In Quantum Entanglement, Forbes.com, October 2020
Quantum Physics May Upend Our Macroscopic Reality In The Universe, Forbes.com, September 2020
A First In Physics: Time Crystals Seen Interacting, Forbes.com, August 2020
How Quantum Entanglement Can Help You Win At Blackjack, Forbes.com, August 2020
The US Comes One Step Closer To Producing Commercial Fusion Power, Forbes.com, May 2020
We May Owe Our Existence To These Small, Ghostly Particles, Forbes.com, April 2020
What Does It Take For Time To Move In Two Directions?, Forbes.com, April 2020
Scientists Measured An Exact Moment In Quantum Time – And It Was Fuzzy, Forbes.com, March 2020
Echoes Could Show Black Holes Have A Quantum Side, Changing Physics As We Know It, Forbes.com, February 2020
Could Our Universe Be 2-Dimensional? Black Holes Offer A Clue, Forbes.com, January 2020
A Newly Seen Quantum Symmetry Can Lead To Insights To The Workings Of The Universe, Forbes.com, October 2019
Could Quantum Gravity Allow Us To Time Travel?, Forbes.com, September 2019
Can Reality Ever Be Known? A Tribute To Bell’s Theorem, Forbes.com, July 2019

Canyon with river

Geology

Iceland earthquakes hint at a new era of increased volcanic activity, Big Think, November 2023
How rocks and minerals play with light to produce breathtaking colors, Big Think, July 2023
How plate tectonics shook life into existence, Big Think, May 2023
5.3 million years ago, the world’s largest flood refilled the Mediterranean, Big Think, May 2023
How life survived “Snowball Earth”, Big Think, April 2023
Some earthquakes last for seconds, others for minutes — and a few for decades, Big Think, February 2023
Earth’s magnetic field supports biblical stories of destruction of ancient cities, Big Think, December 2022
How the biggest earthquake in world history nearly destroyed a local civilization, Big Think, June 2022
The strange under-ice lakes of Antarctica, Big Think, May 2022
How general relativity could help predict volcano eruptions, Big Think, May 2022
Volcano-triggered mass extinction paved the way for the dinosaurs, Big Think, April 2022
Why did dinosaurs go extinct while other animals survived?, Big Think, March 2022
“Supermountains” may have influenced the course of life on Earth, Big Think, March 2022
Earth’s mantle: how earthquakes reveal the history and inner structure of our planet, Big Think, February 2022
Tonga volcano eruption was a once-in-a-millennium event, Big Think, January 2022
New Studies Shed Light On The Origins Of Life On Earth, Forbes.com, June 2020
Is A New Geologic Epoch Beginning – The Anthropocene?, Forbes.com, December 2019
EthicalGEO Winners Show How We Can Use Geospatial Technology For The Good Of All, Forbes.com, October 2019
The Geology of Us: The Anthropocene, SparkDialog Podcasts, July 2018
Subglacial Lakes and Life on Frozen Moons, SparkDialog Podcasts, May 2018

Mother holding baby hand

Science and Technology – Ethics, Philosophy, and Society

My Friend the Chatbot, Discover, November/December 2024
Authentic Faith in Medicine: A Call and Response, BioLogos, August 2024
Four Night Sky Christmas Meditations, BioLogos, December 2023
A Letter to My Kids about the Universe, Faith and Science, BioLogos, August 2023
Space travel will radically change human psychology and spirituality, Big Think, February 2023
We may not be alone in the Universe. Should we reach out?, Big Think, January 2023
How science changes the way we think, according to 10 leading scientists, Big Think, December 2022
Brain experiment suggests that consciousness relies on quantum entanglement, Big Think, November, 2022
Does consciousness change the rules of quantum mechanics?, Big Think, November 2022
Memories, The Here and Now, and Our Future- Time, Religion, and Physics, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2021
AI, Ethics, and the Vatican, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2021
Quantum Entanglement, Consciousness, and the Nature of Reality, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2021
Merging Man and Machine: Transhumanism and Religion, SparkDialog Podcasts, February 2021
Congress Needs To Decide If Gene Editing Is Permissible For Sperm And Eggs, Forbes.com, October 2020
What Would It Mean For Life On Earth If There Is Life On Venus?, Forbes.com, September 2020
Facial Recognition Violates Human Rights, Court Rules, Forbes.com, August 2020
Dalai Lama And Science: His Holiness’ Scientific Side, Now Streaming, Forbes.com, May 2020
Privacy And Contact Tracing Apps – Google And Apple Debate With World Governments, Forbes.com, April 2020
Evolution in the South, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2020
To Live Long, Or To Prosper?, Forbes.com, February 2020
Who Is Responsible In A Crash With A Self-Driving Car?, Forbes.com, February 2020
From Self-Driving Cars to Autonomous Weapons Systems – Can We Trust AI?, SparkDialog Podcasts, February 2020
The Doomsday Clock Is Closer Than Ever To Midnight – Is Anyone Listening?, Forbes.com, January 2020
The Multiverse And Eastern Philosophy, Forbes.com, January 2020
Are The Past And Future Real? The Physics And Philosophy Of Time, Forbes.com, November 2019
Human Participants In Experimentation On The Brain? They Better Be Treated Well., Forbes.com, November 2019
That Pill Is Watching You – Privacy And Hackability Of Ingestible Electronic Sensors, Forbes.com,
Vatican’s Conference Confronts AI, Technology and Morality, Forbes.com, November 2019
Mind Uploading: The Key to Eternal Life?, SparkDialog Podcasts, November 2019
Minibrains Grown In The Laboratory Produce Brainwaves. Now What?, Forbes.com, October 2019
Epileptics with Mystical Experiences, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2019
Yes, People Can Edit The Genome In Their Garage. Can They Be Regulated?, Forbes.com, September 2019
Soon, People May Be Able To Use 3D Printers To Build Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Forbes.com, September 2019
They’re Not Speaking English – Decoding a Message from ET, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2019
Would You Trust Anyone With Your Genetic Information? This Company Wants You To, Forbes.com, August 2019
From Apps On Your Phone To Satellites In The Sky, A New Program Looks Into The Ethics Of Mapping, Forbes.com, August 2019
How Would Society React If The Europa Clipper Discovered Life In Our Cosmic Backyard?, Forbes.com, August 2019
Engineering Ethics Isn’t Always Black And White, Forbes.com, August 2019
How Could We Decode A Message From Extraterrestrials?, Forbes.com, July 2019
Editing The Genome: A New Proposition Confronts The Ethical Can Of Worms, Forbes.com, July 2019
With The Anniversary Of The Moon Landing, Should Laws Governing Space Be Changed?, Forbes.com, July 2019
What We Post On Social Media May Harm Our Children’s Development, Forbes.com, July 2019
Science, Religion, and Evolution, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2019
It’s About Time – A Podcast in the Fourth Dimension, SparkDialog Podcasts, December 2018
From Rosie to RoboCop: Gender, Religion, and Robots, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2018
The Pope’s Astronomer, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2018
Getting a Second Chance: Space Ethics, Mining, and Colonization, SparkDialog Podcasts, November 2017
Humanitarian and Privacy Concerns with AI, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2017
The Ethics of Augmented Reality and Our Future, SparkDialog Podcasts, July 2017
CRISPR – With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, SparkDialog Podcasts, May 2017
The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Monks, and Science, SparkDialog Podcasts, March 2017
The Robotic Moral Code, SparkDialog Podcasts, February 2017
The Star of Bethlehem – A Real Event?, SparkDialog Podcasts, December 2016

The ICESCAPE mission, or "Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment," near Alaska. Original from NASA.

Climate Change and the Environment

As COP26 Continues, Should We Revise The Social Cost Of Carbon?, Forbes.com, November 2021
Don’t Underestimate Local Knowledge Of Agriculture In Dealing With Climate Change, Forbes.com, November 2021
Politics And Religion Unite On The Eve Of The COP26 Summit, Forbes.com, October 2021
By 2500, Climate Change May Completely Transform The World, Forbes.com, October 2021
New York Underwater: Art and Climate Change, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2021
Christian Leaders Unite to Warn Against the Dangers of Climate Change,, Forbes.com, September 2021
Floods in India – A View of Climate Change from Under the River, SparkDialog Podcasts, July 2021
Republicans And Democrats Can Agree When It Comes To Climate Change, Forbes.com, October 2020
68% Of Animals Are Gone – Yet Conservation Can Work. Here’s How, Forbes.com, September 2020
Environmental Racism and Climate Change, SparkDialog Podcasts, August 2020
New World Temperature Record Set – Is Climate Change To Blame?, Forbes.com, August 2020
How Will Climate Change Affect Biodiversity? For Clues, Look To The Past, Forbes.com, June 2020
The West: On the Cusp of a MegaDrought, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2020
Is the Biodiversity of Earth Doomed?, SparkDialog Podcasts, December 2019
Reversing Climate Change: Turning CO2 Into Rock, SparkDialog Podcasts, November 2019
To Combat Climate Change, We Also Need To Understand Our Black Carbon Footprint, Forbes.com, October 2019
Keep on Moving, Stop Climate Change, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2018
Sustainability – The Bigger Picture, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2017
The Energy Future of America – from Renewable Energy to Carbon-Negative Technology, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2017
Climate Change, Religion, and Ethics – A Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspective, SparkDialog Podcasts, January 2017
Climate Science from the Bottom of the World, SparkDialog Podcasts, March 2016

Man stands in a shallow lake holding an umbrella
Long rows of supercomputers
Man in long tunnel

Society and Being Human

Prehistoric Mothers May Have Taken Better Care Of Their Children Than We Thought, Forbes.com, November 2021
Grief in the Time of COVID, SparkDialog Podcasts, May 2021
Gratefulness, Hope, and COVID, SparkDialog Podcasts, March 2021
Why We Need Nature, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2020
Machine Learning Reveals What Makes People Happy In A Relationship, Forbes.com, August 2020
The Coronavirus, Social Media, Online Dating and Black Lives Matter, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2020
Staying Connected During COVID-19 (with Technology!), SparkDialog Podcasts, May 2020
Why “Fatherhood” Is Unique To Humans Among The Primates, Forbes.com, May 2020
Your Eyes May Betray What Decision You Are About To Make, Forbes.com, May 2020
Would You Deliberately Infect Yourself With COVID-19 To Save Others?, Forbes.com, May 2020
The Origins of Language May Go Much Farther Back Than We Thought, SparkDialog Podcasts, May 2020
You Can’t Look Someone In The Eye On A Video Chat – And That Changes How We Interact, Forbes.com, April 2020
How Can We Responsibly Return To Work And End Social Distancing?, Forbes.com, April 2020
How To Keep From Being Isolated During The Coronavirus Pandemic – While Still Keeping Your Distance, Forbes.com, March 2020
The COVID-19 Coronavirus Is Now A Pandemic – Can We Ethically Deal With Lockdowns?, Forbes.com, March 2020
Humans Need The Wilderness To Be Happy, Forbes.com, March 2020
Is The Empathetic Brain Inherently Different?, Forbes.com, February 2020
Feeling Anxious? Try Getting More Sleep, Forbes.com, January 2020
No Surprise Here – Boys And Girls Have Equal Math Ability, Forbes.com, December 2019
Screen Time Habits Start At A Young Age, Forbes.com, December 2019
How Did Language Originate? Charades Might Offer A Clue, Forbes.com, December 2019
Stress Isn’t Just In Your Mind – It’s Also From Your Body, Forbes.com, October 2019
We’ll Keep Disagreeing, Even If We Calmly Listen To One Another, Forbes.com, October 2019
Fake News Could Cause Fake Memories, New Study Finds, Forbes.com, August 2019
Ice Cream and Nazis: The Origin of Moral Choices, SparkDialog Podcasts, August 2018

People silhouetted, sine wave in background

Technology and Society

86 years after infamous ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcast, visitors in the sky have New Jersey panicking again, space.com, December 2024
Lego bricks are making science more accessible, MIT Technology Review, June 2024
MIT scientists design AI that could predict rare disasters, like bridge collapses and rogue waves, Big Think, February 2023
Self-driving cars could transform the world in unexpected ways, Freethink, March 2022
Can Online Privacy Exist Today?, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2020
Twitter Now Encourages Users To Read Articles Before Retweeting, Forbes.com, June 2020
Smart Replies Aren’t So Smart, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2020
Yes, It’s Possible To Feed The World, SparkDialog Podcasts, March 2020
Hack My Heart, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2019
Cameras that can See Around Corners, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2019
A New App Seeks To Reduce Vandalism And Privacy Issues In Augmented Reality, Forbes.com, September 2019
Space Industry – A Future in the Stars, SparkDialog Podcasts, July 2019
What the Future May Hold: The Future of Technology, SparkDialog Podcasts, July 2019
Technology and the Notre Dame Fire, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2019
3D Printed Buildings – From Earth to Mars, SparkDialog Podcasts, November 2018
Transforming Agriculture in Africa, SparkDialog Podcasts, November 2018
To GM or not to GM: GMOs in a Changing World, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2018
Crowdsensing the Noise, SparkDialog Podcasts, July 2018
Can Science Help Us Live Forever?, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2018
Lending a Hand – a Prosthetic Hand, SparkDialog Podcasts, November 2017
From Steak to Insects – The Future of Food, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2017
Robots That Eat Trash and the Entrepreneurs Who Build Them, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2017
Educational Hotspots for Children of the Developing World, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2017
Space: East and West, SparkDialog Podcasts, November 2016
Dress to OS, SparkDialog Podcasts, November 2016
Made In Space, SparkDialog Podcasts, November 2016
The International Space Station and I: The World from Above, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2016
Traveling to the Stars on the Wind of a Laser, SparkDialog Podcasts, May 2016

Closeup, leaves

Chemistry, Biology, and Other Topics

Jacket uses AI to keep you comfortable, ACS, February 2025
Top 10 most popular stories on Big Think in 2022, Big Think, December 2022
Tiktaalik: Bridging the Gap Between Water and Land, BioLogos, July 2022
Angels Care About What You Mean, While Devils Care About What You Say, Forbes.com, September 2021
How Paleolithic is the Paleo Diet? What did our Ancestors Eat Anyways?, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2020
Religious Communities Celebrate Darwin’s Birthday During Evolution Weekend, Forbes.com, Feburary 2020
The Plausibility of Implausible Science Fiction, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2019
Thriving with Autism through Art, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2019
Improving Women’s Healthcare: The Calla Campaign, SparkDialog Podcasts, May 2019
Down the Rabbit Hole: Scientific Comics and Storytelling, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2018
Zombees! A Halloween Episode, SparkDialog Podcasts, October 2017
Women in Science, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2017
Teaching Science with Animals and Travel, SparkDialog Podcasts, August 2017
Autism Therapy and Zen, SparkDialog Podcasts, August 2017
Your Body in Space, SparkDialog Podcasts, May 2017
The Dolphin Whisperer, SparkDialog Podcasts, June 2016