- Science
- Only Human
This Is a Goodbye Post
Some bittersweet news: This is the last installment of Only Human. After two stimulating and fun years blogging at Phenomena, I’m starting a new job: building an investigative science desk for BuzzFeed News.
When I launched this blog I intended to write, as I put it in my first post, “stories about people — what we’re made of, what we do, why we do it.”
The human beat proved to be a bit too broad. This week, after looking back at all of my posts, I realized that Only Human has focused on a handful of subtopics: criminal justice, memory, obesity, dogs, kids, and the business of science. Below I’ve listed links to representative posts from each.
The best part about writing for Phenomena has been sharing this little corner of the big, bad internet with my smart, enthusiastic and frequently hilarious co-bloggers (and friends), Nadia Drake, Brian Switek, Ed Yong and Carl Zimmer. And our blogging overlord, Jamie Shreeve, couldn’t have been kinder or more supportive. Truly.
And readers! You, too, have been wonderful — curious, encouraging, inspiring, provocative, and (almost always) constructive. The comment thread on my post about losing my dog (which, after more than a year, is still going strong!) has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my writing career.
I look forward to seeing how Phenomena continues to thrive and evolve, and I hope you’ll check out BuzzFeed’s emerging science coverage. Though I won’t be on these pages anymore, you can always find me on Twitter or by email. Happy New Year to all — and here’s to new beginnings.
BEST OF ONLY HUMAN
Criminal Justice
Making Juries Better: Some Ideas from Neuroeconomics
How Many People Are Wrongly Convicted?
Why Jurors and Policemen Need Stress Relief
Emotion Is Not the Enemy of Reason
Memory
Drug Tweaks Epigenome To Erase Fear Memories
After Death, H.M.’s Brain Uploaded To the Cloud
Obesity
The Humble Heroes of Weight-Loss Surgery
Expanding Guts in Pythons and People
Why Do Obese Women Earn Less Than Thin Women (and Obese Men)?
Dogs
How Voices Tickle the Dog Brain
People and Dogs: A Genetic Love Story
Kids
When Do Kids Understand Death?
When Do Kids Understand Numbers?
When Do Kids Understand Infinity?
The Business of Science (and Science Journalism)
So Science Gets It Wrong. Then what?
So Science…Might Have Gotten It Wrong. Now What?
Resveratrol Redux, Or: Should I Just Stop Writing About Health?