Selected articles
2024
Boom times for US green energy as federal cash flows in, BBC News, 8 April 2024
Neurology professor Lisa Mosconi: ‘Menopause is a renovation project on the brain’, The Observer, 24 March 2024
Can we have our cake and eat it? Welcome to the world of sugar elimination, The Observer, 24 Feb 2024
The AI tools that might stop you getting hired, The Observer, 3 Feb 2024
2023
The quest to find healthy and cheap sweeteners , BBC News, 14 December 2023
AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li: ‘I’m more concerned about the risks that are here and now’, The Observer, 5 November 2023
Could superpowered plants be the heroes of the climate crisis?, The Observer, 15 October 2023
The firms hoping to take psychedelic drugs mainstream, BBC News, 15 September 2023
‘Tech platforms haven’t been designed to think about death’: meet the expert on what happens online when we die, The Observer, 30 September 2023
Astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance: ‘I’ll probably always live with impostor syndrome’ , The Observer, 12 August 2023
Nvidia: The chip maker that became an AI superpower, BBC News, 31 May 2023
Philosopher Peter Singer: ‘There’s no reason to say humans have more worth or moral status than animals’, The Observer, 21 May 2023
‘They tried to wipe it out’: the problem with talking about Asperger’s, The Observer, 16 April 2023
AI expert Meredith Broussard: ‘Racism, sexism and ableism are systemic problems’, The Observer, 26 March 2023
Prof Nita Farahany: ‘We need a new human right to cognitive liberty’, The Observer, 4 March 2023
Robotaxi tech improves but can they make money?, BBC News, 3 March 2023
Prof Karen Levy: ‘Monitored workers are less likely to think outside the box’ , The Observer, 22 Jan 2023
2022
Bike-share programs have been quietly polluting for years. Now companies like Lime and Lyft are improving design and operations to deliver on sustainability promises, Fortune, 21 Nov 2022
Autistic scholar Temple Grandin: ‘The education system is screening out visual thinkers’, The Observer, 15 Oct 2022
Placebos expert Kathryn T Hall: ‘The effect can rival painkillers like ibuprofen or even morphine’, The Observer, 8 Oct 2022
Astronomer Virginia Trimble: ‘There were 14 women on the Caltech campus when I arrived in 1964’ , The Observer, 17 Sept 2022
‘I’m afraid’: critics of anti-cheating technology for students hit by lawsuits, The Guardian, 26 August 2022
Can artificial intelligence really help us talk to the animals?, The Observer, 31 July 2022
Morgan Levine: ‘Only 10-30% of our lifespan is estimated to be due to genetics’, The Observer, 7 May 2022
‘Bossware is coming for almost every worker’: the software you might not realize is watching you , The Guardian, 27 April 2022
Primatologist Alison Richard: ‘Madagascar is a floating evolutionary laboratory’, The Observer, 3 April 2022
Moderna co-founder Robert Langer: ‘I wanted to use my chemical engineering to help people’, The Observer, 12 March 2022
2021
From pollutant to product: the companies making stuff from CO2, The Observer, 5 Dec 2021
The dawn of tappigraphy: does your smartphone know how you feel before you do?, The Observer, 7 Nov 2021
This time is different: the resurgence of clean tech VC funding, Fortune, 28 Sept 2021
Kathryn Paige Harden: ‘Studies have found genetic variants that correlate with going further in school’, The Observer, 12 Sept 2021
ElliQ is 93-year-old Juanita’s friend. She’s also a robot, The Guardian, 13 Aug 2021
Microsoft’s Kate Crawford: ‘AI is neither artificial nor intelligent’, The Observer, 6 June 2021
The future of elder care is here – and it’s artificial intelligence, The Guardian, 3 June 2021
AI ethicist Kate Darling: ‘Robots can be our partners’, The Observer, 17 April 2021
Shanna Swan: ‘Most couples may have to use assisted reproduction by 2045’, The Observer, 28 March 2021
Is it possible to change a chicken’s sex before it hatches?, The Observer, 31 Jan 2021
Salim Abdool Karim: ‘None of us are safe from Covid if one of us is not. We have mutual interdependence’, The Observer, 10 Jan 2021
2020
Meave Leakey: ‘Definitely, Africa is where it all began’, The Observer, 21 Nov 2020
US Congress hopeful Nancy Goroff: ‘We need more scientists in public office’, The Observer, 31 Oct 2020
Should mother’s milk be produced in the lab?, The Observer, 13 Sept 2020
Allissa Richardson: ‘It’s telling that we’re OK with showing black people dying’, The Observer, 16 Aug 2020
The Fourth Astronaut, Surprisingly Brilliant podcast, interview, 24 June 2020
Catherine D’Ignazio: ‘Data is never a raw, truthful input – and it is never neutral’, The Observer, 21 March 2020
Could ‘young’ blood stop us getting old?The Observer, 2 Feb 2020
Peter Diamandis: ‘In the next 10 years, we’ll reinvent every industry’The Observer, 25 Jan 2020
Out of the lab and into your frying pan: the advance of cultured meat, The Observer, 19 Jan 2020
2019
Naomi Oreskes: ‘Discrediting science is a political strategy’, The Observer, 3 Nov 2019
Dr Sarah E Hill: ‘We have a blind spot about how the pill influences women’s brains’, The Observer, 19 Oct 2019
Are brain implants the future of thinking?, The Observer, 22 Sept 2019
Sarah Parcak: ‘Imagine being able to zoom in from space to see a pottery shard!’, The Observer, 27 July 2019
Margaret Hamilton: ‘They worried that the men might rebel. They didn’t’, The Observer, 13 July 2019
Steffanie Strathdee: ‘Phages have evolved to become perfect predators of bacteria’, The Observer, 15 June 2019
Quarrying the Heavens (on asteroid mining), Unseen Magazine, Issue 6, June 2019 (link not available)
BethAnn McLaughlin: ‘Too many women in science have to run the gauntlet of abuse and leave’, The Observer, 7 April 2019
Could we soon be able to detect cancer in 10 minutes?, The Observer, 24 Feb 2019
2018
How taking a home genetics test could help catch a murderer, The Observer, 1 Dec 2018
Frances Arnold: ‘To expect a Nobel prize is rather silly’, The Observer, 21 Oct 2018
Want to live for ever? Flush out your zombie cells, The Observer, 6 Oct 2018
Decentralisation: the next big step for the world wide web, The Observer, 8 Sept 2018
Sebastian Thrun: ‘The costs of the air taxi system could be less than an Uber’, The Observer, 26 Aug 2018
Nathan Myhrvold: ‘Nasa doesn’t want to admit it’s wrong about asteroids’, The Observer, 24 June 2018
The asteroid rush sending 21st-century prospectors into space, The Observer, 9 June 2018
Why sexism is rife in Silicon Valley, The Observer, 17 March 2018
How can I make money from my DNA?, The Observer, 18 Feb 2018
George Church: ‘Genome sequencing is like the internet back in the late 1980s.’, The Observer, 18 Feb 2018
Can a breath test smoke out stoned drivers?, The Observer, 3 Feb 2018
Can a DIY fertility test help you plan when to have a baby?, The Observer, 21 Jan 2018
2017
Californians get recreational marijuana for 2018, Radio New Zealand, interview, 31 December 2017
The Long Summer of Love, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3 September 2017
Elizabeth Blackburn on the telomere effect: ‘It’s about keeping healthier for longer’, The Observer, 29 January 2017
2016
Smashing the Silicon Valley patriarchy: anti-Lean In strategy puts onus on men, The Guardian (online), 2 November 2016
The future of smart toys and the battle for digital children, The Guardian (online), 22 September 2016
Meet Viv: the AI that wants to read your mind and run your life, The Observer, 31 January 2016
‘Genetic testing is a responsibility if you’re having children’ (Q&A with Anne Wojcicki), The Observer, 8 January 2016
2015
Uber for marijuana (on the marijuana green rush), Radio New Zealand, interview, 12 December 2015
Bassel Khartabil: fears for man who brought open internet to the Arab world, The Guardian, 11 December 2015
Biology’s big hit (on CRISPR), Nature Outlook, 3 December 2015
Stanford students begin ‘indefinite’ sit-in over fossil fuel divestment, The Guardian, 16 November 2015
Dreaming of the billion-dollar high in California’s marijuana green rush, The Observer, 6 November 2015
San Francisco’s hippy heartland struggles to hold on to the spirit of peace and love, The Observer, 31 October 2015
The future of food: what we eat, The Observer, 13 September 2015
Future of food: how we cook, The Observer, 13 September 2015
Q&A: The academic satirist (interview with Jorge Cham), Nature, 9 September 2015
Get ahead in Silicon Valley: replace real food with liquid meals, The Observer, 11 July 2015
Get ahead in Silicon Valley: Upgrade your mind with a brain buzzer , The Observer, 11 July 2015
Get ahead in Silicon Valley: take nootropic brain drugs, The Observer, 11 July 2015
Can we save the rhino from poachers with a 3D printer?, The Observer, 24 May 2015
Crispr: is it a good idea to ‘upgrade’ our DNA?, The Observer, 10 May 2015
Silicon Valley is cool and powerful. But where are the women?, The Observer, 8 March 2015
Jennifer Jacquet: ‘The power of shame is that it can be used by the weak against the strong’, The Observer, 6 March 2015
Robots are leaving the factory floor and heading for your desk – and your job, The Observer, 9 February 2015
The Glass Cage: why our brains are at risk of automation as well as our jobs (review), The Observer, 11 January 2015
Live for ever: Scientists say they’ll soon extend life ‘well beyond 120’, The Observer, 11 January 2015
2014
20 innovations for 2015 , The Observer, 11 December 2014
Prevention: Lessons from a sunburnt country, Nature Outlook, 19 November 2014
Steven Pinker: ‘Twitter can hone your skills as a writer’, The Observer, 9 November 2014
Silicon Valley: the truth about living with the IT crowd , The Observer, 16 August 2014
Stephen Wolfram: ‘The textbook has never interested me’, The Observer, 28 June 2014
Stroke: A growing global burden, Nature Outlook, 26 June 2014
Stanley Prusiner: ‘A Nobel prize doesn’t wipe the scepticism away’, The Observer, 24 May 2014
George Smoot: We mapped the embryonic universe, The Observer, 19 April 2014
Google Glass – Wearable tech but would you wear it?, The Observer, 5 April 2014
Is San Francisco losing its soul?, The Observer, 22 February 2014
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi: ‘Ruling out a cure for Aids would not be French’ , The Observer, 15 February 2014
2013
Craig Venter: ‘This isn’t a fantasy look at the future. We are doing the future’, The Observer, 12 October 2013
Dennis Lo: ‘Should parents be told about a disease their child might get?’, The Observer, 31 August 2013
Saul Perlmutter: ‘Science is about figuring out your mistakes’, The Observer, 6 July 2013
Hallucinogens Tested as Treatment for Cancer Anxiety, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3 June 2013
Psychedelic Academe (on the field of psychedelic medicine), The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2 June 2013
NAS: speaking the truth to power for 150 years, The Lancet, 2 March 2013
New set of Alzheimer’s trials focus on prevention, The Lancet, 23 February 2013
Price doesn’t always buy prestige in open access, Nature News, 22 January 2013
Politics is biggest factor in climate uncertainty, Nature News, 2 January 2013
2012
Locked greenhouse gas in Arctic sea may be ‘climate canary’, Nature News, 7 December 2012
This could be huge…(on the rise of MOOCs), Times Higher Education, 6 December 2012
Older people are more susceptible to swindlers, Nature News, 3 December 2012
Blue whales pirouette for food, Nature News, 28 November 2012
The whiff of white could hide strong odours, Nature News, 19 November 2012
Wrens teach their eggs to sing, Nature News, 8 November 2012
Misconduct is the main cause of life-sciences retractions, Nature, 1 October 2012
Take one start-up, add expertise and grow with care, Financial Times, 24 September 2012
How to confuse a moral compass, Nature News, 19 September 2012
Facebook experiment boosts US voter turnout, Nature News, 12 September 2012
Greater oversight but no sanctions for Italian AIDS contrarian, Nature News blog, 30 July 2012
Facebook ‘likes’ the scientific method, Nature News, 25 July 2012
Invasive Pests, Or Tiny Biological Terrorists?, Failure Magazine story featured on NPR, interview, 22 July 2012
Plan launched to find HIV cure, The Lancet, 21 July 2012
Staff cuts sound ‘death knell’ for atmospheric observatory, Nature News, 11 July 2012
California’s Bioterror Mystery, Failure Magazine, 1 July 2012
Underwater aquarium (on the Free Ocean CO2 Enrichment Experiment), Nature Climate Change, 26 June 2012
Dissident air pollution researcher sues university over firing, Nature News blog, 16 June 2012
US universities should be a leaner research machine, say National Academies, Nature News blog, 14 June 2012
How geography shapes cultural diversity, Nature News, 11 June 2012
Chickadees get smarter as they move up mountains, New Scientist, 1 June 2102
Special topics in calamity physics (profile of Robert Birgeneau), Times Higher Education, 31 May 2012
White House petitioned to make research free to access, Nature News, 25 May 2012
Blonde hair evolved more than once, Nature News, 3 May 2012
Dundee tops THE Student Experience Survey, Times Higher Education, 26 April 2012
Promising new era dawns for cystic fibrosis treatment, The Lancet, 21 April 2012
Monkey genetics track social status, Nature News, 11 April 2012
Ladybirds think like an aphid to catch a meal, New Scientist, 3 April 2012
Hungry mothers give birth to more daughters, Nature News, 28 March 2012
First Madagascar settlers may have been Indonesian, New Scientist, 21 March 2012
Inquiry launched over AIDS contrarian’s teaching, Nature News, 19 March 2012
Student entrepreneurs frustrated by lack of funding, the Guardian Education, 5 March 2012
Five-in-one vaccine carries small risk of seizure, Nature News, 21 February 2012
The only primate to communicate in pure ultrasound, New Scientist, 8 February 2012
Paper denying HIV–AIDS link sparks resignation, Nature News, 30 January 2012
Taking a glacier’s pulse, Nature Climate Change, 27 January 2012
Paper denying HIV–AIDS link secures publication, Nature News, 5 January 2012
No Spring Chickens, Scientific American, 5 January 2012 (republished from Nature News)
A scorpion’s body serves as a basic eye, New Scientist, 4 January 2012
Tracking the endangered California condor, Washington Post, 2 January 2012 (republished from New Scientist)
2011
Can UK universities follow the American lead on financial aid?, Guardian Higher Education Network, 23 Dec 2011
Global warming wilts malaria, Nature News, 21 December 2011
Catching condors in Grand Canyon country, New Scientist, 20 December 2011
Method predicts size of fracking earthquakes, Nature News, 9 December 2011
The new new thing (on the MIT Media Lab), Times Higher Education, 8 December 2011
Could crowd sourcing provide the next genetics breakthrough?, Nature News blog, 1 December 2011
Archaeologists land world’s oldest fish hook, Nature News, 24 November 2011
Experience counts for Nobel laureates, Nature News, 9 November 2011
Global warming ‘confirmed’ (interview with Richard Muller), Nature Climate Change, 6 November 2011
African cave’s ancient ochre lab, Nature News, 13 October 2011
Colon identified as a seat of immune cell learning, New Scientist, 23 September 2011
PhD comics hits the big screen, Nature News, 16 September 2011
Researchers failing to make raw data public, Nature News, 14 September 2011
Miniature microscopes capture neurons in action, Nature News, 11 September 2011
Memory failure detected (on archiving the web), Times Higher Education, 1 September 2011
Taking Woody Guthrie’s politics to the people, Guardian Education, 22 August 2011
An eBay for science, Nature News, 19 August 2011
Black applicants less likely to win NIH grants, Nature News, 18 August 2011
Did reptile swimmer show mother love?, Nature News, 11 August 2011
Placenta to the rescue, Nature News, 1 August 2011
Dizzy moon lander misses public debut, New Scientist blog, 22 July 2011
Business diary: Brewster Kahle, Financial Times, July 18 2011
Twitter to track dengue fever outbreaks in Brazil, New Scientist, 18 July 2011
The youngest dinosaur fragment yet?, Nature News, 13 July 2011
Outraged European academics resent ‘rankings’, Guardian Education, 27 June 2011
Migration tracking reveals marine Serengeti, Nature News, 22 June 2011
Human cell becomes living laser, Nature News, 12 June 2011
A molecular calculator, Nature News, 2 June 2011
How to succeed with grant applications, Nature News, 10 May 2011
British studies, the latest import from the US? , Guardian Education, 2 May 2011
Hungry judges dispense rough justice, Nature News, 11 April 2011
California dream calls Babson, Financial Times, 4 April 2011
Open access articles not cited more, finds study, Nature News blog, 1 April 2011
Twitter advice for profs: keep it personal, Nature News blog, 30 March 2011
Wikipedia wants more contributions from academics, Guardian Education, 29 March 2011
DNA mismatch reveals organ rejection, Nature News, 28 March 2011
How the penis lost its spikes, Nature News, 9 March 2011
They’ve started, but will they finish? (on community college completion), Times Higher Education, 3 March 2011
Science education: Research on the reservation, Nature, 2 March 2011
‘Walking cactus’ is arthropods’ lost relative, Nature News, 23 February 2011
Sunbathing tadpoles make easy prey, Nature News, 26 January 2011
The fruits of Californication (on the UC budget crisis), Times Higher Education, 13 January 2011
2010
Business diary: Rich Skrenta, Blekko, Financial Times, 1 November 2010
To the South Pole, with sled and MBA, Financial Times, 31 October 2010
To be the best, cite the best, Nature News, 13 October 2010
Big row over tiny T. Rex, Nature News, 11 October 2010
Ahead of the curve (on the psychologists studying scientists), Times Higher Education, 7 October 2010
Top dinosaur hunters are worst at naming, Nature News, 24 September 2010
California’s genetic education, Nature News, 21 September 2010
Make mine a double, Nature News blog, 15 September 2010
Leonard Mlodinow on writing with Stephen Hawking, The Times, 11 September 2010
Trial by error (on science reporting), Times Higher Education, 26 August 2010
Lessons in robotics change kids’ perceptions, New Scientist, 25 August 2010
All about me, dot com (on academic websites), Times Higher Education, 19 August 2010
Only children not so lonely, Nature News, 16 August 2010
Naomi Oreskes exposes obscured science, The Times, 16 August 2010
An easy way to boost a paper’s citations,Nature News, 13 August 2010
Mexican ‘climate migrants’ predicted to flood US, Nature News, 26 July 2010
Ecologists shun the urban jungle, Nature News, 16 July 2010
Start-up model patently flawed, Nature, 12 July 2010
AIDS researcher cleared of misconduct, Nature News, 22 June 2010
Archive
List of articles while at the Times Higher Education (search: Zoe Corbyn, September 2007 – May 2010)
Selected feature articles:
Preliminary measures (on the Australian research system), Times Higher Education, 22 April 2010
Let freedom ring (profile of Cary Nelson), Times Higher Education, 4 March 2010
A clear and present danger (on academic freedom), Times Higher Education, 11 February 2010
Learning to share (on open access), Times Higher Education, 12 November 2009
Oasis in the desert (on a new Saudi Arabian university), Times Higher Education, 5 November 2009
The small scientist (profile of Alec Jeffreys), Times Higher Education, 3 September 2009
A threat to scientific communication (on scientific publishing), Times Higher Education, 13 August 2009
Structural adjustments (on UK research funding), Times Higher Education, 14 May 2009
Bang for your bucks (on the economic benefits of research), Times Higher Education, 30 April 2009
From the lab to the lobby (on science and policy making), Times Higher Education, 26 March 2009
Unwelcome complements (on complementary and alternative medicine), Times Higher Education, 30 October 2008
By the blog: academics tread carefully (on academic blogging), Times Higher Education, 9 October 2008
Cheques and balances (on the full cost of scientific research), Times Higher Education, 19 June 2008
Older
List of articles while at Research Fortnight & Research Europe (search: Zoe Corbyn, March 2006 – September 2007)
Atlantic Invaders (on climate change and plankton), Nature Reports Climate Change, 18 October 2007
Biofuels could boost global warming, finds study, Chemistry World, 21 September 2007
Add a little foreign spice to your course (on overseas study), Guardian Education, 18 August 2007
Current trends (on climate change and fish species), the Guardian, 17 July 2007
Too much of a good thing? (on philanthropic funding of universities), Guardian Education, 21 May 2007
In pursuit of media gold (on training Chinese journalists), Guardian Education, 26 March 2007
No space for doctors (on UK space medicine), Guardian Education, 19 March 2007
Energy efficiency: Super savers: Experimenting with efficiency (on greening the lab), Nature, 7 February 2007
Michael Reiss: How to convert a generation, Guardian Education, 27 November 2006
‘Metrics is such a blunt instrument’ (on UK research funding), Guardian Education, 11 September 2006
Steve Fuller : Designer trouble, Guardian Education, 30 January 2006
Zoë Corbyn 