Please see links below for selected work.
Food and Agriculture
What are truffles, and why are they so expensive? – TED-Ed, 2025
Are there really dead wasps in figs? – TED-Ed, 2025
Who Will Pay for Climate-Smart Milk? – Lancaster Farming, 2025, supported by MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellowship
Can Pennsylvania Dairies Profit From Carbon Markets? – Lancaster Farming, 2025, supported by MIT ESJ Fellowship
Could Measuring Greenhouse Gases Increase Returns on Pennsylvania Dairies? – Lancaster Farming, 2025, supported by MIT ESJ Fellowship
Pennsylvania Dairy Farmers Consider Return on Climate-Smart Milk – Lancaster Farming, 2025, supported by MIT ESJ Fellowship
Allergy Labels: This May Contain Peanuts (Or Maybe Not) – Undark, 2024 (republished in The Atlantic)
Pennsylvania dairies put the notion of climate-smart milk to the test – Food & Environment Reporting Network, 2024
Why is rice so popular? – TED-Ed, 2024
What would happen if everyone stopped eating meat tomorrow?– TED-Ed, 2023
Food expiration dates don’t mean what you think – TED-Ed, 2023
Is plant-based meat actually better for you? – TED-Ed, 2023
How to convince people to eat insects – PNAS Front Matter, 2022 (republished in The Washington Post)
Pollen and Heat: A Looming Challenge for Global Agriculture – Yale Environment 360 / Food & Environment Reporting Network, 2022 (republished in BBC, PBS NewsHour, Grist, and elsewhere)
Can Countries Expand Agriculture without Losing Biodiversity? – BioScience, 2022
Not so vanilla: The mission to spice up our favourite flavour – New Scientist, 2021
How does a crop’s environment shape a food’s smell and taste? – Science News, 2020
This Would Be a Really Great Moment for Food Delivery Robots – Slate, 2020
Crop researchers harness artificial intelligence to breed crops for the changing climate– PNAS Front Matter, 2020
Universities move science labs to the kitchen – PNAS Front Matter, 2020
Scientists Are Fighting For The Stricken Pickle Against This Tricky Disease – NPR.org, 2018
Opinion: How I Learned To Face Food Waste And Plan Smarter – NPR.org, 2018
On Christmas Eve, Pass the Pierogi and the Memories – NPR.org, 2017
Vegetable breeders turn to chefs for flavor boost – PNAS Front Matter, 2017
‘What The Fluff?’ Celebrates A Century Of Peanut Butter’s Marshmallow Friend – NPR.org, 2017
Why Do Parrots (And People) Eat Clay? – NPR.org, 2017
How My Little Community Garden Plot Went From Flop To Flourish – NPR.org, 2017
Mozzarella Magic – NPR.org, 2017
This Modern Meadery Is Making Honey Wine Hip – With Hops – NPR.org, 2016
Meet Hing: The Secret-Weapon Spice Of Indian Cuisine – NPR.org, 2016
Water Ice, Philly’s Classic Summer Cooler, Gets Hot Across The Country – NPR.org, 2016
Slice, Dice, Chop Or Julienne: Does The Cut Change The Flavor? – NPR.org, 2016
Environment
Designers join scientist to make living architecture a reality – PNAS Front Matter, 2025
Does planting trees actually cool the planet? – TED-Ed, 2023
Can nature inspire sustainable fashion? – PNAS Front Matter, 2023
Artists join paleobotanists to bring ancient plants to life – PNAS Front Matter, 2022
Expedition artists paint a picture of science exploration – PNAS Front Matter, 2021
Painting with invasive pigments – PNAS Front Matter, 2018
Arctic photographers bring climate change into focus – PNAS Front Matter, 2017
Predicting Phenotypes in a Changing Climate – BioScience, 2017
Phytoremediation advances in the lab but lags in the field – PNAS Front Matter, 2017
The Microbiome of Green Design – BioScience, 2016
Health
Exposome Research Comes of Age– PNAS Front Matter, 2025
How do heat waves affect your body? – TED-Ed, 2024
If psychedelics heal, how do they do it? – PNAS Front Matter, 2024
Are microplastics spreading infectious disease? – PNAS Front Matter, 2023
How “forever chemicals” might impair the immune system – PNAS Front Matter, 2021
Scientists want to build a Noah’s Ark for the human microbiome – Science News, 2020
The race to patch the human heart – PNAS Front Matter, 2018
Athletes Go For Gold With Red Spots Blazing – NPR.org, 2016
‘Nose-y’ Bacteria Could Yield A New Way To Fight Infection – NPR.org, 2016
Turning Down The Background Noise Could Help Toddlers Learn – NPR.org, 2016
What Puts The Waddle In The Walk Of Moms-To-Be? – NPR.org, 2016
How The Microbes Inside Us Went From Enemies To Purported Superhealers, A Q&A with author Ed Yong about “I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life” – NPR.org, 2016
Ecology and Evolution
Neuroscientists Reach for More Branches on the Tree of Life – BioScience, 2020
Cities serve as testbeds for evolutionary change – PNAS Front Matter, 2019
Journal entries, maps, and photos help ecologists reconstruct ecosystems of the past – PNAS Front Matter, 2018
Can microbes keep time for forensic investigators? – PNAS Front Matter, 2017
Can animal culture drive evolution? – PNAS Front Matter, 2017
Lizard gets to grips with city life by evolving stickier feet – New Scientist, 2016
Technology
Historians use data science to mine the past – PNAS Front Matter, 2025
Wearable tech meets tattoo art in a bid to revolutionize both – PNAS Front Matter, 2018
Can robots make good teammates? – PNAS Front Matter, 2018
Sentient architecture promises insight into our evolving relationship with AI – PNAS Front Matter, 2018
Science Careers
Biology Graduate Programs Educating Students for Life beyond Academia – BioScience, 2018
Musicians join scientists to explore data through sound – PNAS Front Matter, 2017
FOJBI: Meet Carolyn Beans, Roadside Scientist Turned Science Journalist – NPR.org, 2016
Confessions of a Herbarium-Savvy Field Biologist – American Scientist’s Macroscope Blog, 2015
Roadside Science – Nature, 2013