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BBC Future
How your smart home devices can be turned against you They can make our lives easier and more convenient, but can devices such as smart light bulbs and voice-controlled assistants also be used against someone as a form of domestic abuse? Mosaic
How a wooden bench in Zimbabwe is starting a revolution in mental health. Won best feature at the Association of British Science Writer's Awards 2019 My longform feature on the "Friendship Bench," a creation of Dixon Chibanda, professor of psychiatry at the University of Zimbabwe, and his team of dedicated grandmothers in the southern heart of Harare. BBC Future
80-years-old and still unbeaten. Despite its dark history of misuse and abuse, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is still one of the most effective treatments for severe, intractable depression. BBC Future
How social media shapes my depression A short essay on the complex relationship between social media and depression. NOVA Next
Seeing nature's voice I travel to Puerto Rico to meet the scientists training computers to 'hear' nature's most endangered species. The Open Notebook
On being a science writer and managing a mental illness My first piece on mental illness and how I (and others) deal with it as a writer. I hope this provides comfort or confidence to people who need it. NOVA Next
How our ancient origins are guiding modern medicine I talk to the scientists who are not only identifying where Neanderthal genes are in our genome, but how they respond to infections. Although extinct in body, the species isn't extinct in gene. BBC Future
The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less. From worms to monkeys, studies show that consuming fewer calories can slow ageing and the diseases associated with it. More recent experiments are now showing that humans might have just as much to gain. BBC Earth
Scotland is home to small 'tigers', but maybe not for long From the chill of late February, my feature on a small group of volunteers who are trying to keep the Scottish wildcat wild. BBC Future
The ancient and unique path to life on the "Roof of the World" A story of how the new explorers, those of genomes and data, are revealing the secrets to life on the Tibetan Plateau. NOVA Next
Next wave of antibacterials may kill with physics, not chemistry A story of two scientists from Australia who see science as a game, each project is a marriage between playing and child-like curiosity. They may have stumbled on new ways to kill an ever-increasing legion of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Aeon
What say you, dinosaur? The calls of long extinct animals are being brought back to life with modern technology. Hakai Magazine
Saving a coral reef, one transplant at a time. In the Seychelles, after one of the worst bleaching events known, scientists are replanting whole reefs. Nautilus
How autism shaped the modern conversation Invented in the 1980s, emoticons can to help people who struggle to understand inherent messages. BBC Future
The dangerous myth of vitamin pills Linus Pauling is the only person to have received two, unpaired Nobel Prizes. He was correct about many things, but, as he aged, dangerously wrong about another: vitamins and antioxidants are elixirs of life, the holy-grail for anti-ageing. << Featured in BBC Future's Top 10 list of 2016 and Longreads' weekly picks >> Hakai Magazine
The shark finning ban that should be banned. In the US, a proposed ban on all shark fins might actually be damaging to sustainable fishermen and shark populations worldwide. BBC Earth
Meet Nanotyrannus, the dinosaur that never really existed. How fossils can be reinterpreted with new data, and the extinction of names that follows. Hakai Magazine
Are sharks the guardians of the reef as is often portrayed? Only a few sharks are apex predators that control the ecosystem below. BBC Earth
Beavers are back and they will reshape the land. In which I visit a secretive site in rural Devon where an outdoor experiment may help decide the fate of beavers in the UK. Known as ecosystem engineers, scientists are trying to find out what exactly these large rodents are engineering in our waterways. BBC Earth
Honeybees sleep everyday, but do they dream? The similarities between how we dream and they sleep are striking. BBC Earth
The fallen family tree of beavers. From 35 million years ago, beavers have filled many ecological roles and sizes. BBC Earth
Slingshots, silkhenges, and spider bondage sex. Out of their rears, spiders have an unlimited source of ingenuity. New Scientist
In the mood. At the Horniman Museum in London, Jamie Craggs and his colleagues have been trying to make they aquaria as closely matched to a tropical sea. The sun and moon are simulated, and on time, using LED lights. The water temperature varies with the seasons. I went to see whether the corals were feeling at home. Hakai Magazine
The hangover of coral bleaching. By sapping current corals of their main food source, bleaching events can have long last effects. BBC Future
Pheromones probably aren't why people find you attractive. In contrast to hundreds of websites and perfume companies, after 50 years of research, not one human pheromone has been found. BBC Earth
The women with a controversial plan to save corals We have used selective breeding to create new dog breeds and improve crop yields. Could it also help corals survive the ravages of climate change? Hakai Magazine
Finding our first fish Recent fossils from over 400 million years ago have been shaking up the fish family tree, and changing our view of our ancestry in the process. I went to Oxford to meet one of the fossils and asked one of the researchers behind the find to sketch one of our oldest fishy ancestors. Aeon
Sexy beasts Male flamboyance does more than ruffle a few feathers – it helps the female choose a mate in top metabolic health. New Scientist
Five wild animals that won't seem to do it in cages. From a turtle that has half a penis to a rhino that is too old to mount a female, these are some unfortunate and endangered species. Nautilus
Why albino birds are much rarer than you think. Not all white birds are albino. It's a common misconception and it reduces the diversity of mutations in colouration to only a few possibilities. Poring through the collections at the Natural History Museum at Tring, UK, Hein van Grow reveals the true nature of pigmentation. A mini-series for BBC Earth on life and water
BBC Earth
The insects that eat history. Museums of natural history are a paradox: they contain millions of specimens of a huge range of species, but they have to keep life to zero within there walls. At the Natural History Museum in London the routine quarantine checks are vital to keep precious specimens from hungry mouths. Nautilus
How your embryo knew what to do. The forgotten story of the woman who discovered how animals get their shape. Aeon
Suspended animation How a 500-year experiment to revive dormant microbes could reveal the secrets to cheating time. NOVA Next
The codes of modern life How error correction algorithms invented in the 1960s are now being used in the most ancient data storage devices: DNA. Nautilus
These males are cheating animals. From optical illusions to useless sugar gifts, the tricks some species play would make darwin blush. Nautilus
Fish school us on wind power. My first published piece! Thanks for getting this far down the page and back in time. Your scrolling means a lot to me and I hope you have read and enjoyed something on here. This particular piece is about record-efficiency wind turbines that are inspired by fish and seagrass. |