Selected Works

A couple stands next to an empty crib while balloons float up into the air.

When a couple doesn’t want more kids (or any) who should get snipped?

Four couples describe why they chose sterilization surgery – and how they decided which of them would get it

The Guardian

a meme-y illustration of a man is shocked at the sight of a pyramid of five star reviews and social media sites.

Essay: The Pyramid Scheme of Taste

What we lose when we live vicariously through recommendation.

Mental Hellth (or read here)

A glowy bronze mask sits in the middle of darkness.

Feature: Why Do Stolen Relics Worth Millions Keep Ending up in America's Most Prestigious Museums?

How two bronze masks, stolen in the 1990s, found their way home to Nepal after 30 years.

Popular Mechanics

A house decked out with many different eco-friendly strategies

This green housing trend is booming

These green homes are designed to be as energy efficient as possible. New incentives aim to make them more budget-friendly.

The Washington Post

Smears of lotion form the image of a smiley face.

Skin Care Is Coming for Your Brain

Need to work on your relationships? There’s a moisturizer for that.

The Atlantic

An elderly couple walks away from the camera, amid lush foliage of a public park

America Is Getting Lonelier and More Indoorsy. That’s Not a Coincidence.

Our relationship to nature and our relationships with one another are deeply intertwined.

The Atlantic

A sad, old-timey dial telephone stands still and confused

Missing a friend from the past? You should reach out.

Your old friend probably wants to DM you too.

Vox

A silhouette of a person holding a phone

Where Are The Good Climate Change Apps?

Apps could help us track our individualized carbon footprints, but some experts are skeptical.

Atmos Magazine

An orange-saturated grim landscape of skeletal trees

Stop Calling It 'Climate Anxiety.' It's Climate Dread.

The phrase “climate dread” better legitimizes the real and tangible threat coming toward us.

The New Republic

An illustration of a massive ball with an orange-yellow gradient sitting atop a person lying prone on bottom of the frame

How Heat Waves Take a Toll on Mental Health

Extreme heat can influence mood and raise the likelihood of a more serious mental health issue. Here’s what to know.

The New York Times

A mosaic of illustrated faces

The case for inviting everyone to everything

In a time when loneliness is more pervasive than ever, why not extend an invitation?

Vox

The blue Jeopardy! stage

Jeopardy! Winner Reveals Entwined Memory Systems Make a Trivia Champion

A former Jeopardy! winner led a new study that probes how linked memory systems may give trivia buffs an edge in their game.

Scientific American

An illustration of a figure's head reflected left-right, with swirling hypnotic circles in between

What Can Hypnosis Do for Your Health?

This 200-year-old treatment can be effective for a variety of conditions, but it does take work.

The New York Times

A cute toddler getting her bangs cut

Untangling Race From Hair

One anthropologist has made it her mission to remove racial prejudices from the study of hair and find the evolutionary roots of hair diversity.

SAPIENS

A collage of a woman with her hair masked with many illustrations of various things and colors

Essay: Does Making Predictions Impede the Formation of Memories?

When your brain is presented with a scenario, it makes a decision.

Catapult

A microscope photograph of aquatic organisms

The ups and downs of a great vertical migration

Many water dwellers – from plankton to large fish – commute daily from the depths to the surface.

Knowable Magazine; Republished in The Atlantic, Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine, and Inverse

A night-time photograph of people spearfishing, illuminated by camera flash

Indigenous harvest rights still under attack in the upper Great Lakes

Tribal leaders say racism and harassment persist as members exercise treaty rights.

Environmental Health News