My scientific writing has appeared in print in The Lancet, Geotimes, Mercator's World, Woods Hole Currents, the Newport News, Va., Daily Press, BioInform and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Alumni Association newsletter. I also write scripts for two syndicated radio programs, Our Ocean World and MicrobeWorld, produced by Finger Lakes Productions International.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
My first book is about the pivotal contribution of ocean-floor research to the debate over continental drift and plate tectonics. The book was published in February 2002. It earned good reviews, and is now in more than 600 libraries in 22 countries:
Upheaval from the Abyss: Ocean Floor Mapping and the Earth Science Revolution
I began writing for The Lancet in 2002. To see the articles, you will have to register with The Lancet's Web site, but registration is free.
This May 17, 2003, article reported on confirmation that SARS-associated coronavirus caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
On May 3, 2003, I wrote about the discovery of genes that play a role in the virulence of anthrax:
This November 9, 2002, article reports that, yes, exercise is good for you:
The September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon increased concerns about other types of terrorism, such as bioterror attacks using the smallpox virus. The U.S. government pondered a surveillance-and-containment response to a possible attack, but this July 13, 2002, article reported on research that suggested a more aggressive strategy might be best:
Mass vaccination after a smallpox attack might be best, researchers suggest
I began writing for Finger Lakes Productions, producers of the radio programs MicrobeWorld and Our Ocean World, in 2002. Below are samples of some of my scripts from MicrobeWorld. You will need a media player, such as, QuickTime, Real Player, Winamp, or Windows Media Player to listen to the programs.
This May 12, 2003, program described how microbial evidence is being used to learn more about the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
We normally think of viruses as harmful agents, but this May 2, 2003, program reveals that viruses can contribute to the health of ocean ecosystems:
When we think of Yellowstone National Park, we normally think of bears, wolves and moose. But, as we learn in this April 1, 2003, program, biologists there are also concerned with preserving the biodiversity of Yellowstone's microbial world:
Most of us don't find B.O., body odor, all that pleasant. But giraffes find it downright sexy. This March 3, 2003, program reveals why:
Without bacteria, there would be no chocolate. Learn why in the special Valentine's Day program which last aired on February 14, 2007:
I began writing for Finger Lakes Productions, producers of the radio programs MicrobeWorld and Our Ocean World, in 2002. Below are samples of some of my scripts for Our Ocean World. You will need a media player, such as, QuickTime, Real Player, Winamp, or Windows Media Player to listen to the programs.
Scientists' efforts to detect a quick sensor for saxitoxin, the cause of paralytic shellfish poisoning, was profiled in the February 13, 2003.
Hurricanes are a significant hazard along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. This February 11, 2003, program discusses how sediments deposited by past storms can be used to reveal the region's hurricane history.
This January 8, 2003, program on Hudson Canyon mapping described a fantastic landscape on the ocean floor, near one of the biggest metropolitan areas on earth -- New York City.
I began writing short articles for the magazine Geotimes in the summer of 2001. This article, from the March 2002 issue, reported on a controversy over earth science education requirements in Texas:
This November 2001 issue was devoted to "Geosciences & Human Health." I contributed an article on Mercury:
This article, from the October 2001 issue, reported on a controversial paper that suggested plants and fungi colonized terrestrial environments much earlier in the Earth's history than previously indicated by the fossil record:
My first magazine story was this profile of Marie Tharp -- the woman who mapped the world's ocean floor -- which appeared as the cover story for the November/December 1999 issue of the magazine Mercator's World:
This profile of Hagen Shempf and Noelette Conway-Schempf -- graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography -- appeared in a 1999 issue of the magazine Woods Hole Currents:
This profile of Robert T. Jones -- a NASA engineer who made a major contribution to the development of supersonic flight -- appeared in the August 21, 1999, edition of the Newport News, Va., Daily Press:
This is a report on how bioinformatics (a fusion of biotechnology and advanced information management) will contribute to a search for the genetic cause of rheumatoid arthritis. It appeared in the September 29, 1997, edition of the newsletter BioInform:
Bioinformatics looms large in the effort to uncover arthritis genes
This report focused on the development of Canada's second-generation Internet infrastructure and its use in advanced biotechnological research. It appeared in the August 4, 1997, edition of the newsletter BioInform:
CEO: Bioinformatics will benefit from new Canadian Internet infrastructure
Students work on a master's project at Columbia. It's more of a long magazine piece for print and new media students, or a broadcast project for broadcast students. Of course I chose to work on a science topic -- on a controversy close to my heart. It probably could use an edit. I've spotted at least one error, but chose to post it as I filed it.
