I’m San Francisco bureau chief with New Scientist magazine. I report on biology, medicine, social sciences and the environment — from genetics and stem cells, through ecology and conservation, to psychology and psychiatry.
I also teach in the Science Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
I got my break in journalism in 1989 as a reporter for Nature in London, fresh from a PhD in animal behavior. Later I worked as European correspondent for Science and as news editor for New Scientist. Prior to moving to California in October 2005, I spent five years as chief news & features editor with Nature.
I’m especially interested in investigative and computer-assisted reporting, and I’m fascinated by data visualization.
When the opportunity arises, I love to combine my work with travel. Over the years I’ve reported from countries including Cameroon, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Vietnam.
My articles have won awards from the Association of British Science Writers, the Association of Health Care Journalists, the UK Guild of Health Writers, the Society of Environmental Journalists, the Royal Statistical Society and the Wistar Institute.