2010 was a massive year for me: I learned a lot in internships and classes, got to write a lot for many different outlets, and found my content legs. I also moved from Santa Cruz to Philadelphia and New York City.
In our Winter quarter, I interned at the Santa Cruz Sentinel, writing local news stories of all kinds. Our classes in the winter quarter were:
- Science Feature Writing
- Multimedia Reporting and Storytelling
In the Spring, I interned at the WIRED Science blog. Our classes were:
- Multimedia Reporting and Storytelling
- Investigative and Policy Reporting
- Profiles
In June, I graduated from Santa Cruz. I drove across the country with my cat Ignaz Semmelweis to Philadelphia for an internship at The Scientist, where I got to blog and write magazine feature stories for a scientific audience.
In the Fall, I got an internship at Discover Magazine and picked up again, heading to NYC to write for 80beats and Discoblog, RIP.
2010 Clips
December
Russia Will Spend $2 Billion on a Space Drone to Tidy up Orbit
Are Antibiotic-Infused Products Causing Allergies in Kids?
To Make Gold Nanoparticles, Add a Dash of Cinnamon
Guilt-Free Procrastination: This Online Game Could Cure Genetic Diseases
Indian Dentist: Elephant Tusk Surgery Was an “Elephantine Task”
Age-Reversing Drugs on the Horizon? Not So Fast.
Dark Energy Theory Gets a Boost From New Galactic Measurements
Animal Testing Advocate Gets “AIDS-Tainted Razor Blades” in the Mail
Chubby Kitties, Tubby Turtles, Mega Marmosets: Animals Are Fattening Up
Geckos Always Land on Their Feet—and So Does This Gecko-Bot
Big Scientists Pick Big Science’s Biggest Mistakes
Once-a-Day Pill Reduces HIV Infections—Would People Actually Take It?
Video Reveals How a Flying Snake Slithers Through the Air
Study: A Redesigned Combat Helmet Could Prevent Brain Injuries
Thanks, Global Recession: You Made Carbon Emissions Drop a Little
Tiger Summit: World Leaders Gather to Save the Big Cat From Extinction
New “Symphony of Science” Video—Featuring a Melodious Discover Blogger!
Amateur Cryptographers Go Gaga Over New Kryptos Clue: B-E-R-L-I-N
Mother’s Fatty Diet Makes Baby Monkeys Afraid of Mr. Potato Head
Peeping Tom Camera Uses Lasers to Peer Around Corners
Hopping Mars Rover Could Run on Isotopes and Martian Air
In the Glorious Future, Could Space Travel Be Poop-Powered?
The Sweet Sound of Seepage: Listening to the Oil Spill
LHC Particle Physicists to World: Our New Album Drops December 6th
Let Loose the Coyotes? Chicago Embraces Rat-Hunting Predators
Movie Soundtracks Use Animal-Like Sounds to Tug on Your Emotions
The Little Space Probe That Could: Hayabusa Brought Home Asteroid Dust
Airline Passenger Refuses to Be Groped by Security; Becomes a Folk Hero
How Not to Get a Flat on the Moon: Use a Spring-Packed Super Tire
What Does Your City Smell Like? DARPA Wants to Know
Science Idol! Arab Reality TV Show Puts Inventors in the Spotlight
Nutritionists to America: For the Love of God, Don’t Try the Twinkie Diet
“Cool It”: Climate Contrarian Bjorn Lomborg Takes His Message to the Movies
World’s Oldest Embryo Fossils Shed Light on Dinosaur Parenting
Stem Cell Injections Give Mice Mighty Muscles
Prescription for an Aggressive Man: Look at More Meat
Your Next Sponge Bath May Come From a Robot Named Cody
DOGS AWAY! Pups Go Parachuting to Sniff out the Taliban
And the Prize for World’s Largest Testicles Goes to… the Bushcricket!
Nanogenerator Takes Us One Step Closer to Power-Generating Clothing
“Story of Stuff” Crusade Takes on E-Waste and Planned Obsolescence
Step 1: Pee on Stick. Step 2: Ask Your Phone if You Have an STD
Why People of Other Races “All Look Alike” to You
The Monkey Snuggle Market: How Much for a Quick Nuzzle?
Toasty Testicles From Laptops Could Make for Less Fertile Nerds
Going Direct: Researchers Change Skin Into Blood With No Stops in Between
Natural Disaster Report: Hurricane Threatens Haiti, Indonesian Volcano Erupts
The Secret Knowledge of Taxi Drivers Could Be Added to Online Maps
Impact: Earth! Lets You Smash Your Home Planet to Bits
Happy Meal Set to Become a Sad Meal in San Francisco
Researchers Try to Improve Math Skills With Electrical Zaps to the Brain
Holographic Video Device Could Bring Star Wars Tech to Your Living Room
Two Studies Undermine Fish Oil’s Role as a Brain Food
Chatbot Debates Climate Change Deniers on Twitter so You Don’t Have to
Laser-Powered Helicopter Breaks Records, Is Pretty Cute
Follow the “Truthy” Tweets to Find Twitter’s Political Spammers
Sexy Black Truffle Porn: Not as Exciting as You Hoped
Miniature Human Liver Grown in Lab; Seems to Work Like the Real Thing
iPhone Alarm Bug Gave Thousands of Europeans an Excuse to Sleep in
Don’t Try This at Home: Flamingos Get Their Blush From Oily Rump Glands
“Octopus Head War” Pits Korean Health Officials Against Fishermen
Everest Gets 3G Coverage; Avalanche of Tweets & Status Updates to Follow
Plastic Chemical BPA Linked to Lower Sperm Count & Quality
Take the “Ultimate Intelligence Test” to Find out if You’re Ultimately Smart
How “Snowball Earth” Could Have Triggered the Rise of Life
For Bees, Solving Tricky Math Problems Is All in a Day’s Work
Photos: Insects Trapped in Amber Offer a Glimpse of Prehistoric Bug Life
To Animate a Drunken Mess, Use New Algorithms for Wrinkled Clothing and Flushed Faces
Google Street View’s Privacy Blunder Just Keeps Getting Worse
The Guggenheim/YouTube Art Experiment: See Winning Videos Here
Spaceport America Dedicates Its Runway; Flights *Could* Begin in 2011
Running by the Books: Math for the Marathoner
“Life Ascending” Wins the Royal Society’s Science Book Prize
Robot, Build Thyself: Machine Made of Lego Builds Models Made of Lego
Coming Soon to the Internets: Digitized Dead Sea Scrolls
Pretty Liquid Crystal Experiments Could Reorganize Electronic Displays
Ontario Parents Try to Protect School Kids From Dangerous WiFi Rays
From the Case Files: The Peanut Butter Cookie and the Lungs of Doom
Could an Experimental Memory Drug Put an End to “Senior Moments”?
Implantable LEDs Could Be Medical Sensors, or Sweet Glowing Tattoos
Dance, Fembot, Dance–Right Into the Uncanny Valley
Bone Bite Marks Suggest That T. Rex Dabbled in Cannibalism
Get Your Steampunk On: This Guy’s Building a Computer From 1837
NASA and Etsy Team Up to Get Their Space Craft(ing) On
2 New Ways to Kick Heroin: A High-Blocking Injection, a Long-Lasting Implant
What’s That Flavor? I Can’t Taste It Over All This Noise
Plastic Chemical BPA Is Officially Toxic in Canada
X Marks the Spot of a Dramatic Asteroid Collision
Punching Robot Totally Breaks Asimov’s First Rule
Obama Administration Lifts Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium
The Platypus Can Poison You 80 Different Ways
Does a 200-Year-Old Gourd Contain the Blood of a Beheaded King?
2 Ways to Keep an Eye on Illegal Logging: Watch on Tiger-Cam; Bug the Trees
How & Why to Write a Bacterial Opera for the Ig Nobel Awards
Um… That “Goldilocks” Exoplanet May Not Exist
Study: A “Pessimistic” Dog Is More Likely to Destroy Your Slippers
Offshore Wind Farming Gets a Giant Google Boost
December 30th, 2010 — Did Early Humans Migrate Across a Watery, Green Sahara? (80beats)
December 29th, 2010 — Which Celebrities Are Science-Illiterate Whack Jobs? Find Out Here (Discoblog)
NJ Mayor Is a Tweeting, Snow-Shoveling Blizzard Hero (Discoblog)
December 28th, 2010 — Are Booze-Drenched Societies More Likely To Be Monogamous? (Discoblog)
Fridge of the Future Predicts We Will Be Lazy (Discoblog)
December 23rd, 2010 — News Roundup: Coal Ash Aftermath, Suing to Save The Wolves, and More E.T. Science (80beats)
Rogue Performer Turns Friend’s Face Into Drum Kit—All for Science! (Discoblog)
December 22nd, 2010 — Weirdest of the Weird: Discoblog’s Favorite Stories of 2010 (Gallery) (Discoblog)
Mutant Mice Chirp Like Birds. So What Are They Saying? (Discoblog)
December 21st, 2010 — GM Recycles Oil-Soaked Booms From BP Spill Into Parts for Chevy Volt (Discoblog)
Man Accidentally Carries Loaded Gun Onto Plane; TSA Failure Rate May Approach 70% (80beats)
December 20th, 2010 — Elephant Bird’s Tasty, Giant Eggs Were Most Likely Its Downfall (Discoblog)
You Go, Girl—Female Students Who Bike or Walk Do Better on Tests (Discoblog)
December 17th, 2010 — Each Cell-Phone Tower Creates 18 Babies?! The Difference Between Causation & Correlation (Discoblog)
LHC’s Lack of Black Holes Rules Out Some Versions of String Theory (80beats)
Chernobyl & Indonesia: The Newest Members of the “Grief Tourism” Club (Discoblog)
December 16th, 2010 — Presidential Commission Gives Synthetic Biology the Green Light (80beats)
Science of the Obvious: Beauty Sleep Is Real & Tired People Look Tired (Discoblog)
Pee-based Gaming Coming to a Urinal Near You (If You’re in Japan) (Discoblog)
December 15th, 2010 — Are Gun-Toting Climate Skeptics Taking Pot Shots at Wind Turbines? (Discoblog)
Year’s Best Peer Review Comments: Papers That “Suck the Will to Live” (Discoblog)
December 14th, 2010 — Proved by Science: Sleepy Bees Are Sloppy Dancers (80beats)
Map of Facebook Friend Connections Lights Up the World (Discoblog)
December 13th, 2010 — Navy’s New Railgun Shoots at Mach 7, Can Hit Targets 100 Miles Away (80beats)
A Potential Cure for Male Diabetics Is Found in Their Own Testicles (80beats)
Shark Attack in Egypt? Must Be the Work of Israeli Agents (Discoblog)
December 10th, 2010 — Building an Ancient Greek “Computer” out of Lego (Discoblog)
Computerized Smart-Gun Can Shoot Someone Behind a Rock (80beats)
SpaceX Reveals Secret Cargo on Its Orbital Test Flight: Space Cheese! (Discoblog)
December 9th, 2010 — Aging Kazakhstan President Asks His Scientists to Find Fountain of Youth (Discoblog)
Is That a Sausage in Your Petri Dish? (Discoblog)
From a Pregnant Woman’s Blood Sample, Researchers Determine Baby’s Genome (80beats)
December 8th, 2010 — Exoplanets of the Week: A “Diamond Planet” and Gas Giant Quadruplets (80beats)
Dental Researchers to Mouth Bacteria: Don’t Get too Attached (Discoblog)
A Creepy Monster of the Forest: The Albino, Vampiric Redwood Tree (Discoblog)
Dirty Money? Controversial Chemical BPA Found on Dollar Bills (80beats)
December 7th, 2010 — New Bacterium Is Digesting the Titanic, One Iron Atom at a Time (80beats)
Canadian Internet Users: Link to This Post at Your Own Risk (Discoblog)
Bug Juice: Hornet May Turn Sunlight Into Electricity (Discoblog)
December 6th, 2010 — NASA Found Aliens! Or Not. The Worst Coverage of Arsenic-Loving Bacteria (Discoblog)
Study: Why Swine Flu Struck the Middle-Aged, Sparing the Young & Old (80beats)
How to Prep for Oil Spills: Dump 210,000 Gallons of Popcorn in the Water (Discoblog)
December 2nd, 2010 — A New Treatment for Bowel Problems: Eating 1,000 Parasitic Worm Eggs (Discoblog)
Kinect Hacks: Turn Invisible, Make an Instant Light Saber, & More (Discoblog)
SOFIA the Flying Telescope Cruises Through Her First Science Mission (80beats)
December 1st, 2010 — Great Space Balls of Fire! How to Explain Weird Sightings Over Australia? (Discoblog)
The 2 Ingredients for Self-Replicating Solar Power: Sahara Sand & Sun (80beats)]