Once, I was interviewing someone for a mental health article who on the side aspired to write novels. In the course of discussing our differing endeavors he declared: “I could never just write what people told me.” In fact, I said, the whole point of journalism is to dig out facts and people’s views and put them together to explain things.
I love writing science because — at least in what I do — it’s a process of figuring out how things work and why they’re the way they are. And turning complex ideas into understandable articles that people want to read.
The articles listed here were written for the Chicago-based Association of University Technology Managers annual A Better World Report (now the online Better World Project). It focuses on instances of research performed in academic settings that are translated into commercial products and services that benefit society.
Selected Samples
(Adobe Acrobat Reader required; for free download click here.)
- SmartFresh — Preserving Agricultural Products (A Better World Report).
- FreezePruf — Protecting Plants from Freezing Temperatures (A Better World Report).
- Well Water Arsenic — Solving a Significant Problem in India (A Better World Report).
- Petrel — Technology for Protecting Water Supplies (A Better World Report).
- Reclaiming a Fossil Fuel Byproduct — (A Better World Report).
- Lithium Rechargeable Batteries — (A Better World Report).
- MetalMaster — Contaminated Soil Remediation (A Better World Report).
- MuniRem — Remediating Munitions Contamination (A Better World Report).
- Making Highways Safer — A Technology to Minimize Roadway Icing (A Better World Report).