Gothamist • November 18 2021

NYC Schools Bought Weaker Air Purifiers. Now Underventilated Campuses Are More Prone To COVID Cases

Writing: "The New York City public schools that rely solely on open windows and portable air purifiers have seen 23% more COVID-19 cases per students and a 29% increase in staff case rates when compared to buildings with stronger ventilation, such as HVAC systems, according to a new WNYC/Gothamist investigation.

The findings raise new concerns about the adequacy of dozens of public schools as winter approaches and schools struggle to deal with aging buildings amid the pandemic."

PBS News • January 12 2017

Coral bleaching is killing reefs. Is the answer a great migration?

Writing and Video Production: "HAMILTON, BERMUDA — “So, the sub is going to tip forward, that’s normal. Then it’s going to roll on its back, just tip back a little bit, that’s also normal. Here we go!”

That’s my co-pilot Kelvin Magee. The two of us are barefoot inside the Nomad, a two-person submersible. The captain shouts orders as the crew work cranes and levers."

PBS News • September 18 2019

Science journal walks back claim that smartphones make millennials grow horns

Writing: "One of the most well-regarded science publishers in the world has walked back the main takeaway from a study that claimed smartphones are causing millennials to grow horns."

PBS News • June 9 2016

What a smell looks like

Writing and Video Production: "The experiment was created so scientists could study how animals and humans use smells to navigate their surroundings. That question forms the heart of a new $6.4 million project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the White House Brain Initiative, called Cracking the Olfactory Code."

Science • September 17 2020

Millennials and Gen Z are spreading coronavirus—but not because of parties and bars

Editing: Younger generations are blamed for the pandemic’s spread, but also face the brunt of the transmission risk that comes with keeping the economy going.

PBS News • April 11 2018

The placebo effect’s role in healing, explained

Editing: "Over the past couple decades, placebo research has gone from a fringe endeavor to mainstream brain science. And while it’s impossible to know just what role placebos play in traditional medicine across the world, neuroscientists have uncovered a few clues that shed some light on how sucking on someone’s knee actually can relieve them of pain."

PBS News • August 24 2016

How do you stop invasive lionfish? Maybe with a robotic zapper

Writing and Video Production: "In a way, the lionfish terminator — not the robot’s official name — is cousin to a vacuum cleaner."

Gothamist • October 17 2023

Maimonides evicts current and former hospital workers from buildings converted into NYC affordable housing

Editing: "The group being evicted consists primarily of hospital retirees and other former workers who were never offered alternative housing. It also includes current employees who refused to move after being offered employee housing in other buildings."

Gothamist • June 15 2023

Like smoking 30 cigarettes in 8 hours: NYC’s air quality crisis, tallied

Editing: "Wildfire smoke fouled the city’s air quality last week, but how bad was it compared to inhaling cigarette smoke? Is there a remedy for lingering health symptoms?"

PBS News • June 20 2019

To fight the next major pandemic, flu hunters turn to these animals

Writing: CAPE MAY BEACH, New Jersey – For 360 million years, this patch of New Jersey shoreline — and dozens of other spots along the Delaware Bay — has been a crucial mating ground for horseshoe crabs. Every year during the first full moon in May, tens of thous ands of them come ashore to bury their eggs in the sand.

Gothamist • August 22 2022

The inside story of how NYC schools spent $90 million on air purifiers that have stirred controversy

Editing: "The company that sold tens of thousands of air purifiers for use in New York City public school classrooms since the start of the pandemic — despite concerns among parents, teachers, and ventilation experts about their efficacy — used a high-powered lobbying firm to target key members of city government.

New documents obtained by Gothamist show just how close some of those relationships were."

Gothamist • July 28 2022

New NYC storm surge map shows how climate change threatens affordable housing, upscale waterfront

Editing: "East Harlem continues to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy, as the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront builds large, luxury high-rises in a flood zone where a permanent retreat could be necessary."

National Geographic • October 2 2020

Natural herd immunity can’t stop the COVID-19 pandemic. Neither can a weak vaccine.

Writing: "Debates over herd immunity and natural infection arise with every outbreak. Effective vaccination always wins."

National Geographic • April 15 2020

The pandemic is giving people vivid, unusual dreams. Here’s why.

Editing: "Researchers explain why withdrawal from our usual environments—due to social distancing—has left dreamers with a dearth of “inspiration.”"

National Geographic • February 24 2020

Coronavirus spikes outside China show travel bans aren’t working

Writing: "History and science show that travel restrictions can delay, but hardly stop, an outbreak."

National Geographic • February 10 2020

‘Reaper of Death’ tyrannosaur discovered in Canada

Editing: "The scar-faced dinosaur illuminates how T. rex and its relatives became top predators."

National Geographic • January 23 2020

Vesuvius eruption baked some people to death—and turned one brain to glass

Editing: "A pair of studies reveals more details about what happened to the victims of the infamous event in A.D. 79."

PBS NewsHour • November 26 2019

How to keep conspiracy theories from ruining your time with family

Writing: "It’s common for people to believe in conspiracy theories. So common that recent work suggests everyone believes in at least one conspiracy theory. But being common does not necessarily mean these unfounded assertions are becoming more widely accepted."

PBS NewsHour • November 7 2019

Genetic genealogy can help solve cold cases. It can also accuse the wrong person.

Writing: "From a law enforcement perspective, the case for using genetic genealogy is strong. But experts are also flagging concerns about what the method means for people’s legal and DNA privacy."

PBS NewsHour • October 24 2019

Ransomware and data breaches linked to uptick in fatal heart attacks

Writing: "New research finds that at hospitals that experienced a data breach, the death rate among heart attack patients increased in the months and years afterward."

PBS NewsHour • January 5 2019

How your brain stops you from taking climate change seriously

Writing: "Action on climate change has been stymied by politics, lobbying by energy companies and the natural pace of scientific research — but one of the most significant barriers is our own minds."

PBS NewsHour • July 12 2018

What is a blazar? Its high-energy flares could unlock the foundations of the universe

Editing: "There are thousands of blazars across the universe, but on Thursday, a team of physicists, working with a lab near the South Pole, said they’ve discovered that blazars can also double as particle accelerators.

They report, in two papers published in the journal Science, that blazars are a source of high-energy neutrinos — elementary particles of the universe that could help trace the origin of cosmic rays."

PBS NewsHour • July 5 2018

Spiders fly on the currents of Earth's electric field

Editing: "Spiders don’t have wings, but they can fly across entire oceans on long strands of silk. For more than a century, scientists thought it was the wind that carried them, sometimes as high as a jet stream — in a process known as “ballooning.”

A new study shows that the Earth’s electric field can propel these flying spiders, too."

PBS NewsHour • December 11 2017

Fentanyl is so potent doctors don't know how to fight it

Writing: "In 2002, Chechen terrorists took 800 people hostage in Moscow Theater, and Russian special forces devised a peculiar way to subdue them. The tactical team gassed the theater with two types of fentanyl, an opioid known for its extreme strength. One version was 2,000 to 5,000 times as potent as heroin."