Writing Samples

I write for a lot of different publications, but here’s a quick sampling of some of my most recent articles.
Microbial Megastorage for Popular Science – storing information in DNA.

High-definition movie files can decimate the free space on your computer, but scientists are working to turn bacteria into a hard drive with nearly infinite capacity. This past spring, a group led by scientists at Keio University’s Institute for Advanced Biosciences at the Shonan Fujisawa campus near Tokyo announced that they had inscribed the phrase “E=MC² 1905!” onto bacterial DNA as a tribute to Albert Einstein. More than just parchment for simple messages, bacteria have the potential for massive data storage.

Something in the Air for the University of Toronto Magazine.

There’s been a lot of discussion about manmade gases in the atmosphere wreaking havoc on the Earth, but this one is a killer. Literally.

Allied and Central powers used phosgene as a chemical warfare agent in the First World War. But a University of Toronto project has found the deadly gas in our atmosphere as a result of human industry.

Lethal Bacteria Turn Deadlier after Space Travel for National Geographic News.
Bacteria can change into more infectious and deadly organisms after a stint in space, a new experiment suggests.

A science experiment on board space shuttle Atlantis in 2006 included Salmonella typhimurium bacteria, which is often fatal in humans.When the bacteria—which had been safely isolated from the space crew—returned to Earth, scientists injected them into mice.

They found the space-faring bacteria caused death quicker and more often than Earth-restricted organisms.The findings are concerning for future astronauts who will embark on longer space missions farther away from Earth-based medical help, experts say.