Someone was telling me there is no way you could eat dandelions, otherwise they’d all be harvested and sold in the market and you’d never be able to pick any

I mean that is some Grade A capitalist brain rot

Whaler’s village in Maui. I find it interesting that this little area gets its name from the history of hunting whales, and they formerly had a museum about the history of whaling.

Now, it’s a museum about whale conservation. The spot is basically just an outdoor mall now, with whale statues and such, and it seems like the “killing whales” thing is a bit swept under the rug.

If you’re interested in science writing, I’ve recommended The Open Notebook before and I’m recommending it again! And in turn, here is a list of things that they recommend for science writers. There really are tons of resources out there!

Full disclosure, I was looking at this site because they just put my group on there, Authors of Nonfiction Books in Progress. Most of the attendees are science writers, but if you’re writing (or seriously about to start writing) a non-memoir nonfiction book with an educational element, you’ll benefit.

Hi all–I’m moderating a panel on vertical video for the National Association of Science Writers Conference!

If you make great science-focused social/vertical videos (TikTok, IG Reels, YT shorts) and want to be on a panel, LMK! Or feel free to suggest someone. Since I’m already good with TikTok, I’d love someone who is best with IG Reels/YT Shorts.

This will be a one-hour online panel in the first week of October. Sadly no pay but participants get free admission to the Science Writers conference (including the in-person part, in Boulder, CO)

Japan vs Japan

This is the 10th anniversary of this blog. I’ve got a count of 65,000 followers, but I’m sure much fewer people are actually here. Still, I’m happy to get some engagement!

I started this blog because I had applied to an internship with Huffington Post’s Crime and Weird News, and the interviewer asked if I had a blog. I figured, why don’t I have one if I’m supposed to be a professional journalist, and lots of people have blogs?

I had a lot of fun writing about what I wanted to write about, having been trained with a degree in journalism that focused a lot on stuff I wasn’t interested in (“Community Meeting About Pothole on Third Avenue,” etc). But man, did it ever start flowing when I could focus on animals and bones and stuff!

So I got a master’s in Science Journalism at Boston University, then interned at National Geographic, then freelanced for them, did a fellowship at PBS Newshour, took a job at Newsweek, then a bunch of other little things, then Bay Nature Magazine. You can see some of my writing here.

Social media has always been part of my career. I think that this blog helped me stand out on my application to Nat Geo and launched me into that. Then at PBS Newshour I was a Science and Social Media News Assistant, then at both Newsweek and Bay Nature, I really improved the social media presence of our content. (Among other things, I did @newsweekscience ’s Tumblr and Bay Nature’s TikTok). I have a list of my social media accounts in this pinned post.

In 2018 I pitched a book called Carcass to MIT Press, and they were interested, but that kind of went to the back burner in the craziness of that time. In 2020 I started a Tiktok (RollBones) which now has more than 190,000 followers. Then in 2022 I revisited the book, got an agent, and now I have a $50k advance book deal with MIT Press. Carcass (@carcassafterlives) should be out in the spring of 2025.

Thanks for sticking around!