“Alexander is an exceptionally talented storyteller and a true pleasure to work with. He has a keen ability to craft compelling narratives, and his talent for transforming complex topics into engaging, accessible stories is unmatched.”
Kassandra Tuten
Communications Manager
University of Wisconsin Law School
Science & Tech | Health | Music & Art | Business | Law & Justice | Travel | Personal
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
A Pioneering Mind
Terry Sejnowski began his career exploring the mysteries of the cosmos before turning his attention to the mysteries of the human brain. (Think)
Basic Training
AI has been evolving rapidly since its inception. Forward-thinking physicians are evolving with it. (Medicine@Brown)
Quantum Leap
A New York startup is racing tech’s biggest names to take quantum computing out of the lab and turn it into something that businesses can actually use. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Peter Agre’s Third Act
How a humble Nobel laureate found a new mission: science diplomacy. (HBPH Magazine)
Eyes in the Skies
Harnessing the power of space-age intelligence for the commercial sector. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Obituary for a Motion Sickness Expert
Meet Victor Wilson, a WWII refugee who escaped Nazi-occupied Europe and helped figure out why astronauts get space-sick. (Rockefeller News)
Ready to Rumble
A geophysicist brings fault lines into sharper focus. (Techer)
Microscope Man
Scott Kuo helps researchers see more deeply. (Johns Hopkins Magazine)
A Crash Course in Quantum Computing
A physicist explains how quantum computers work, what makes them special—and how soon we might get our hands on them. (Denison Magazine)
A Great Chill Has Unlocked Biology
The ultra-cold technique of cryo-electron microscopy has set the world of structural biology on fire. (Seek)
All That Buzz
The newest hope for disease control? Hack mosquitoes’ sense of smell. (HBPH Magazine)
The Universe Might Just Be Curved
New research suggests that maybe, just maybe, the universe could be sphere-shaped. (Johns Hopkins Magazine)
Taming the System
Keeping the peace in the rough-and-tumble world of online gaming. (Techer)
All the World’s Genes, at Our Fingertips
A bit of genetic trickery, borrowed from bacteria, has made gene editing easy. The question now is how to make good use of it. (Seek)
A Biologist’s Mission
Biologist Emmett Jolly beat the odds to become a scientist. Now he fights monsters. (art|sci)
Social Science
Jean and Joe Sanger have spent a lifetime together in the lab, revolutionizing cell biology along the way. (Dartmouth Medicine)
Spinning a Good Tale
Quantum mechanics may hold the key to a hand-held biology laboratory. (The Economist.) [This one’s behind a paywall, so I’ve linked to the audio version, complete with a posh British accent.]
Rising Rents Give Rise to Shrinking Audio Studios
Rising rents and new technology are cramming recording studios into ever-smaller spaces. Welcome to the vest-pocket studio. (Wired)
HEALTH
Physician, Heal Thy World
You probably don’t associate Google with public health. But physician and public health expert Vuong “Von” Nguyen is doing his best to change that. (Rice Magazine)
A Transformation of Mercy
A former West Philadelphia safety-net hospital is becoming something totally new: a resource hub for achieving health equity and sustaining public health. (Penn Medicine)
Taking Eye Care Into the Community
A community-based program aims to help older public-housing residents safeguard their vision. (Columbia Medicine)
Violence, Interrupted
Arrests and incarceration won’t stop urban gun violence. But community violence prevention might. (HBPH Magazine)
Warning! Sepsis Ahead
A leading killer of hospitalized patients just may have met its match. (Hopkins Medicine)
Invisible Pandemic
The initial coronavirus surge has passed, but the mental health fallout persists. (HBPH Magazine)
Save the World, Baker
Injury prevention expert Sue Baker has spent her career making the world a safer place. (HBPH Magazine)
The Good Behavior Game: The Game that Keeps on Giving
A simple classroom management strategy pays dividends for a lifetime. (HBPH Magazine)
Flood of Injustice
The latest health impact of a warming planet? Climate gentrification—the pricing of vulnerable populations out of their homes. (HBPH Magazine)
Understanding an Epidemic
Researchers delve into the expanding opioid epidemic—and try to combat it. (Think)
Expanding Access to Reconstructive Plastic Surgery
Janis Luque had all but given up on doctors. Then she found the right one. (NYU Langone News & Views)
Beyond Recognition
Face blindness leads neuroscientists into uncharted nooks of the brain. (Seek)
Stalking the Zika Virus
A biotech startup tries to thwart an emerging health crisis and develop a new model for vaccines. (Penn Law Journal)
Sound Patterns
Searching for the genetic roots of speech disorders. (art|sci)
At Their Own Risk
Do the dangers of concussion among our nation’s youth outweigh the benefits of contact sports? (At Buffalo)
Turning Spaghetti into Numbers
A newly discovered cognitive impairment scrambles the brain’s ability to perceive letters and numbers. (Arts & Sciences)
MUSIC & ART
Cowboy Charters
Why country music is topping charts and filling arenas. (Berklee Today)
The Music Is the Message
Pianist and management professor Frank Barrett spreads the lessons of jazz far and wide. (Think)
The Future Sounds Bright
Immersive multimedia events blend music and light to create multisensory magic. (Berklee Today)
A Rare Bird
Titmouse animation studio flies high. (Visual Arts Journal)
A Dance in the Sky
With help from famed architect William Pedersen, a multibillion dollar project is transforming the New York City skyline. (Minnesota Alumni)
The Sound of Hacked Dolls’ Heads
Dan Farkas subjects kids’ toys to Borg-like modifications, then makes music with them. (Wired)
Habitats for Humanities
Loosening up artists’ residencies. (Visual Arts Journal)
Real Enemies
A multimedia show uses an anxiety-inducing score and set to bring audience members face to face with some of America’s classic conspiracies. (The Guardian)
Historian at Heart
Best-selling author David Nasaw brings serious historical scholarship to the widest audience he can. (Bucknell Magazine)
Not So Still Life, With Music
If talking about music is like painting with architecture, what must painting about music be like? The artist Ralph Gilbert has a few thoughts. (The Milken Archive)
Jazzed Up
Former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky’s poetry gets a rhythm section. (Tablet)
The Sounds of Science
Computer music moves out of the lab. (The Walrus)
From Crypto to Jazz
A jazz saxophonist draws on cryptography and number theory for his riffs and rhythms. (Wired)
BUSINESS
The Race for National Security Launches into Orbit
How American national security became dependent on the commercial space sector. (HBS)
Reimagining VC
Allan Jean-Baptiste is trying to shake up the hidebound world of venture capital. (Milton Magazine)
Turning Science into Startups
How a public research university in the Rocky Mountains became one of the nation’s top incubators for deep-tech startups. (Coloradan Magazine)
What Lies Beneath
Shifting to clean energy means electrifying transportation. KoBold Metals is trying to get us there faster. (AMS Newsletter)
Yes “We” Can
Replacing “you” with “we” can make a message less threatening—and less likely to be censored. (Stanford Business)
Curb Appeal
Can Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch clean up New York City? (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
“We Have 30 Extra Years”: A New Way of Thinking About Aging
People around the world are living, working, and learning longer. Get ready to upgrade your old ideas about longevity. (Stanford Business)
Clearing the Air
A Texas startup aims to decarbonize industrial chemical processing, and prevent a gigaton of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere. (Rice Business)
An Insider’s Perspective
A concerned father uses venture capital to drive advances in autism care. (Denison Magazine)
New Wave
Marine-energy startups tap the power of tides and waves to fuel a low-carbon future. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Green Giants
Forget about electric cars and meatless meat: If you really want to combat climate change, look to risk management and private equity. (Stanford Business)
Going Up?
You’re riding a wage escalator. And your race and gender can make a big difference in the quality of your ride. (W.P. Carey Magazine)
Up on the Corner
Nadine Dlodlo’s community-centered approach to redeveloping a once-vibrant section of Baltimore offers a blueprint for reviving neighborhoods across the globe. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
City on a Hill
There’s no silver bullet for economic recovery in Appalachia. It’s going to take a whole new ecosystem—which is just what Geoff Marietta has built. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Life in My ($135) Bargain Shorts
Test-riding a pair of fancy-fabric action pants. (Pomona College Magazine)
LAW & JUSTICE
Can Artificial Intelligence Be Trusted to Get the Work Done?
The potential benefits—and pitfalls—of using AI to support lawyering and financial services. (Minnesota Law)
‘We’re the Last Hope’
How the Wisconsin Innocence Project fights for the wrongfully convicted. (Gargoyle)
Monopolizing Student Interest
As technology reshapes markets, antitrust gains a competitive edge in the classroom. (Northeastern Law)
Sowing the Seeds of Rural Entrepreneurship
The path from software developer to lawyer for rural entrepreneurs may not seem like an obvious one. But for this law professor, it all makes sense. (Gargoyle)
Firearm Forensics on Trial
Defense attorneys appealing a murder conviction enlisted the expertise of statisticians to determine whether the field of firearm forensics is grounded in solid science. The answer? Not even close. (HBPH Magazine)
An Independent Mind
Libertarian legal scholar Jonathan Adler pursues principle over politics. (Think)
Providing Access to Justice for Immigrants and Asylum Seekers
Erin Barbato, director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic (IJC) at the University of Wisconsin Law School, has a knot in the pit of her stomach. (Gargoyle)
The Case of Inmate No. A246292
Dean Gillispie has spent 20 years in prison for kidnapping and rape. Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has made it his job to free him. (Denison Magazine)
No Más
After witnessing terrible wrongs as a medical student, Dr. Karen Benker devoted her career to the fight for medical justice. (Pomona College Magazine)
Restoring Justice
Confronting a man involved in the murder of her own parents turned Noreen Deiss into an advocate for restorative justice. (Gargoyle)
TRAVEL
Sefarad No More
In which the author’s attempt to discover traces of Spain’s medieval Jewish community does not go as planned. (Kveller)
Whale Watching from Land
If you want to see whales, you needn’t bother chasing after them in a boat. Just pitch a tent by the St. Lawrence River and wait for them to come to you. (The Montreal Gazette)
Barbadian Wonders Coax Kids Out of Their Shells
Calm waters, green monkeys, and giant caves: Barbados has something for everyone, no matter how young. (The Boston Globe)
Lost Music of Istanbul’s Sephardic Jews
Istanbul was once a center of Sephardic Jewish life and music. But that energy has moved elsewhere. (The Forward)
Ocean Pew
Though only a tiny fraction of what it was in the 18th century, Barbados’s Jewish community—and its 1750 synagogue—still stand proud. (Tablet)
A Food Tour of Montreal’s Plateau
Bingeing on Jewish delicacies in my hometown. (The Forward)
Visiting the Hamptons, but Not Paying the Price
For resort chic on a budget, pitch a tent and (sort of) rough it. (The New York Times)
PERSONAL ESSAYS
Traveling While Jewish
A recent visit to a Muslim country raised unwelcome questions—and unnecessary fears. (Kveller)
Drums, Lies, and Audiotape
When I was invited to drum in Ghana, I gladly accepted. Then something went wrong. (Nautilus)
Bending Traditions in Ghana
Though you’d never guess it by looking at me, I was once an African drummer. (The Forward)