Looking back at the past month of writing, I found myself reflecting about how science works. When we journalists write an article, we need to offer readers a hook that lets them know why a story is coming out today. That's all well and good, but it's always important to remember that a new scientific paper is never the whole story.
Science is the work of careers, of generations. Debates churn on year after year, often resolving only when researchers realize they all had a piece of the truth, but only a piece.
These four columns allowed me to dip back into research that I've been following for many years. None of the new studies that served as my story hooks are the last word on anything. Instead, they were four fortunate opportunities to dive into rivers of questions.
Humans Shipped an Awful Cargo Across the Seas: Cancer.
How Did Plants Conquer Land? These Humble Algae Hold Clues
Scientists Are Just Beginning to Understand Mysterious DNA Circles Common in Cancer Cells
Is This the First Fossil of an Embryo?
Fractured Forests Are Endangering Wildlife, Scientists Find
Here's looking forward to more rivers of questions in 2020!
January 20, 2020 Los Angeles, Aloud (with cosmologist Sean Carroll). Details to come.
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