OpinionSeptember 18, 2020
Jaws: Classic Film, Crummy Science
Forty-five years after the movie made everyone afraid to wade into the ocean, it’s not too late to remind viewers of the truth about sharks
Stories by Cristine Russell
Cristine Russell is an award-winning freelance journalist who has written about science, health and the environment for more than four decades. She is a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School in the Belfer Center's Environment and Natural Resources Program and a former president of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and the National Association of Science Writers. Follow her on Twitter @russellcris.
OpinionAugust 9, 2020
The Film Radioactive Shows How Marie Curie Was a ‘Woman of the Future’
A world-famous scientist is depicted with a nuance befitting both her achievements and her struggles
OpinionJune 20, 2020
RIP David Perlman, the Dean of American Science Writing
Among other things, he covered the Apollo moon landings, the rise of recombinant DNA technology and the emergence of AIDS
OpinionNovember 2, 2019
A Scary Year for Climate Change
Scientists’ warnings about climate change have intensified over the past 12 months. Will world leaders finally listen?
EnvironmentOctober 3, 2018
Living with Fire in Northern California
A wave of conflagrations has altered both the land and human psyches
EnvironmentNovember 23, 2017
Nature’s Response to the Catastrophic California Wildfires
Damage from the Tubbs fire in October now presents a rare opportunity to learn about the behavior of wildfire, its ecological aftermath and how we live with fire
PolicyOctober 27, 2017
Confronting Sexual Harassment in Science
It's not just movie moguls and politicians; the problem is rampant in STEM fields as well. But recent moves by major organizations could mark a sea change in addressing this entrenched, degrading behavior.
EnvironmentNovember 5, 2015
The Arctic Paradox Poses Questions about Sustainable Development
The SciencesSeptember 17, 2015
Ig Nobel Prizes Mark a Quarter Century of Irreverent Science Humor
From levitating a live frog with magnets to a study of soggy cereal, awards foster enlightenment through laughter
The SciencesJune 15, 2015
Why Tim Hunt's Sexist Comments Were No "Joke"
The British Nobel Prize-winner has complained that he's been treated unfairly, but it is the women he insulted that deserve sympathy and support
The SciencesSeptember 23, 2014
Ig Nobel Prizes Make You Laugh, Then Think
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—What happens in the brains of people who see Jesus in a piece of toast? What are the physics of slipping on a banana peel?