It was a privilege and great fun to be asked to edit this 6th edition of NewSouth Books’ highly successful ‘Best Australian Science Writing‘ series. It’s been a long haul, but you can find it now at all good bookshops – just in time for Christmas! Long list of big names included in this edition, … Continue reading
Category Archives: Science
Australian Museum Eureka Prizes: Finalist
Thrilled to announce that my documentary for ABC Radio National’s Background Briefing program “Ebola with Wings: the TB crisis on our doorstep” is a finalist for the Australian Museum’s Eureka Prizes in the Science Journalism category. My co-nominees are BB’s executive producer, Wendy Carlisle, and team members Tim Roxburgh and Linda McGinness. You can listen … Continue reading
Great Barrier Grief
‘We were diving in dissolving reef … it was like diving in ectoplasm. It was awful’ – Prof Justin Marshall. In the June edition of The Monthly I have a long piece on the devastating coral bleaching now playing out on the Great Barrier Reef. At the same time as news emerges that the Australian … Continue reading
Best Australian Science Writing 2016
I’m thrilled to be the Editor of the next edition of NewSouth’s Best Australian Science Writing 2016 – the annual compendium of ripping reads from the scientific frontier. Find details here – and deadline for submissions is 31 March. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate and cultivate fine science storytelling, so show us your best, scribes. Continue reading
Paris COP21 Climate Summit: Planet Earth Blog
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been engaged as a “guest blogger” by the University of Melbourne to provide some guided commentary on its “Pursuit” communications platform around the Paris talks. Mostly the focus was to delve into the university’s in-house expert resource, but I had a long leash. After the Agreement, the blog … Continue reading
In the footsteps of Wallace: Cosmos
NOW UNLOCKED! Vojtech Novotny is a Czech entomologist who first travelled to Papua New Guinea 20 years ago. He came for the insects. He stayed for the people. Having heard much about him over the years, it was a thrill to visit his laboratory and field sites in Madang. The profile I’ve written is published in … Continue reading
Gut Feelings: For The Monthly
In stellar company in the May edition of The Monthly, talking shit – my shit, and the microbiome, the exploding medical frontier of our gut. Now unlocked! You can find it by clicking here. Continue reading