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In April 2012, we spoke with Matthew Hutson, class of 2003 – the first class of the Graduate Program in Science Writing.  Matt lives in New York and has just published his first book, The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy and Sane.  He writes for Wired, Discover, Scientific American Mind, and The New York Times Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, @silverjacket, or check out his website at http://magicalthinkingbook.com.

GPSW: First, tell us a bit about what you’ve been up to since you graduated in 2003.  

Matt: After I graduated in 2003, I spent six months at Fermilab writing about physics and life around the lab. From there, I went to San Diego for two years to work at Sally Ride Science as their in-house science writer, producing books and newsletters and electronic content for middle-school kids (mostly girls). Then I moved to New York to be the news editor at Psychology Today. I spent four years there before leaving to focus on my book. I enjoyed the process of book writing so much that as soon as I finished, I started working on another proposal, which I’ve been researching for most of the past year. Over the past six years I’ve also done a bit of freelancing: Wired, Discover, Scientific American Mind, The New York Times Magazine, etc.

GPSW: You’ve just written about how superstitions not only don’t harm us, they actually keep us healthy.  What got you interested in the topic?

 Matt: I should say that superstitions do harm us; it’s just that they can also sometimes help us, which to me is the more surprising proposition. I got into the topic when I was ten and became an atheist. I wondered why smart people believe strange things. Then in college I became interested in consciousness and studied cognitive neuroscience. I’m curious about how the mind constructs a picture of the universe and what kinds of assumptions we can’t help but make in the process. And, for me, there’s just something so juicy about the topic of magical thinking; it has almost magical appeal itself. It really gets to the heart of how we find meaning in the world.

 GPSW: What made you know that it was a book in the making, rather than a magazine article or news feature?

Matt: It started as a feature in Psychology Today. A couple of book agents reached out, but I told them I didn’t have the time to write a book.

I thought about it more and people convinced me I could make the time if I really wanted to. It was definitely a topic I could live with for two or more years, and I felt I had a lot more to say about it.

 GPSW: You’ve had a lot of variety in your writing life – physics, space science, the human mind – what’s your favorite thing to write about?

Matt: Definitely the human mind. It’s an area that has such direct relevance to us nearly every moment of the day, and it’s something everyone is interested in, because everyone is interested in themselves.

GPSW: Is it true you’ve played with fire?

Matt:  Yes, that’s true. I do poi, and occasionally fire poi. Poi is a form of dance that involves spinning two small weights (sometimes balls of fire) around at the ends of tethers in various patterns. I started learning after I returned from my first Burning Man in 2007.

GPSW: In the spirit of the 10th anniversary of the Graduate Program in Science Writing, do you have a favorite memory of your year here?

Matt: I’ll mention two. While researching my thesis on AI, creativity, and music composition, I visited the home of a Pulitzer-Prize winning composer. There I played for him pieces by actual composers and pieces by a computer program and I watched him struggle to differentiate real Bach from fake.

The other moment would be eating dinner with my sciwrite classmates and reading some of our pieces aloud to each other.

GPSW: What’s next for you?

Matt: I’m working on another book proposal, hoping to become a hermit again.

Erico Guizzo ’03 has won his second Neal Award in a row, for the IEEE Spectrum Automaton blog.  The award is considered the “Pulitzer Prize for business media” and is a prestigious and sought-after honor.  Congratulations to Erico for defending his title!

Robert Kanigel’s most recent book On an Irish Island was released on February 7, 2012.

 Called by Indie Bound “A love letter to a vanished way of life”, the book brings to life the people and language on the Great Blasket Island in Western Ireland just as their time there is ending.  The Barnes & Noble Review find that  “In passages that have a wonderful, ecstatic quality, Kanigel traces Thomson’s notion that Homer had come alive on Great Blasket.”

On An Irish Island
Alfred A. Knopf, 2012
ISBN-13: 9780307269591

http://www.robertkanigel.com/

Professor Robert Kanigel was interviewed in the December issue of Current Science magazine about his work and career.  Have a read!

http://cs-test.ias.ac.in/cs/Volumes/101/11/1410.pdf

In December, the Graduate Program in Science Writing interviewed Genevieve Wanucha ’09 about her life and work. Genevieve is a freelancer, primarily working on her first book (due 2013). Her work has appeared in SEED Magazine, Technology Review, Nature Medicine and on the NPR website. Her website is GenevieveWanucha.com.

GPSW: Where do you live and do you like it there?

Genevieve: I currently live in the Boston area. It’s a very special place. Home to the psychology department at Northeastern University, the world class neurological researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and the brain imaging collaborations of MIT and Harvard, this city provides near limitless science writing material.

GPSW: What’s your current project?

Genevieve: I’m working full-time on a book in which I document how neurodegenerative disease has inspired researchers to rethink the very nature of human emotion and self-consciousness. Writing it has been an interesting creative experience because I’ve watched my idea completely morph, contract, and expand since I started in the spring of 2010. It’s almost like putting together a puzzle whose pieces keep changing shape under my fingers mid-game–it’s exciting and daunting. The best part of working on the book is the challenge of getting as close to my subject matter as possible. I’ve visited labs to interview affective scientists and behavioral neurologists, met and observed patients in the clinic, and have really tried to understand emotion and its disorders as subjective phenomena that need to be studied as such. My ethnography skills from my undergraduate cultural anthropology degree are really paying off. I traveled to the California Institute of Technology to help dissect a brain, and I’ve been hooked up to a machine that monitored my physiology as I underwent emotional visual stimuli. I’ve met some very interesting, generous women and men along the way who will be my links to the inner world of brain science for my whole career. But, writing is not easy. It takes self discipline, and there’s a lot of stress involved in the creative process.

GPSW: When can we get a copy?

Genevieve: As of now, the plan is 2013. I will personally deliver to the MIT Science Writing department as many free copies as are desired.

GPSW: Do you work on other freelance projects at the same time?

Genevieve: I do freelance grant editing and the occasional biographical profile. I am temporarily avoiding more involved articles, as I conserve every last drop of research and writing energy for the book.

GPSW: What do you do for fun?

Genevieve: My social life basically exists in New York City, so I take the bus there frequently. With a job that is so mentally demanding, relaxing is important. I read as much non-fiction as I can and watch suspenseful films, documentaries about parallel universes and black holes, and a lot of cooking competitions. If I could afford it, I would have a lot more culinary adventures. I am developing an interest in yoga.

GPSW: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Genevieve: My dream is to be the go-to writer for magazine editors looking for features on brain and emotion science issues–for example, the ethical minefield of using brain scans in criminal trials or the psychiatric consequences of social stress during childhood. I’d like to have written several books and articles, one on women in the neurosciences across time, and PBS’s Charlie Rose would have asked me to come put it all in perspective.

GPSW: Favorite genre of music?

Genevieve: I enjoy a variety of alternative or folk rock music, especially the vocally intense songs of Florence And The Machine or the acoustic guitar solos of Iron & Wine. For everyday background music, I listen to classical violin, mostly Vivaldi.

GPSW: Anything else you’d like to say about being a science writer?

Genevieve: Science writing does not exactly destine you for riches, but it’s the only career that I would find so uniquely fulfilling in its dual requirements of intense sociality and isolation. It’s what I make with the help of the scientists and people who let me in. For me, over the past year, it’s been about hovering very close to day-to-day scientific process while living as a storyteller who makes researchers’ work come alive in the context of our times. A neuroanatomist who I’m writing about in my book recently told me, “You’re becoming kind of our Boswell!,” referring to the writer James Boswell who wrote an in-the-moment biography of the literary figure Samuel Johnson in the 1770s by following him through the islands of Scotland with a pen and diary. That about sums it up, except to say that I hope I someday stop getting nervous before every interview.

In September, the Graduate Program in Science Writing spoke with Emily Anthes ’06 about her life and work since graduation. Emily is a freelancer, living in Brooklyn, New York. Her work has appeared in Scientific American Mind, the Boston Globe, Popular Science, Discover, New York Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Seed and more. She is the author of The Instant Egghead Guide: The Mind and writes the blog Wonderland for the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Blogs.  Her website is http://emilyanthes.com.

GPSW: How do you find living and working in New York City, the Media Hub of the Universe?
Emily: It’s great. I always thought that I wasn’t the “New York Type,” but I’ve discovered, of course, that there is no one “New York Experience.” You can shape it to fit who you are. I live in Brooklyn, where I bump into writers (of all sorts) at every turn. Writing can be a lonely enterprise, but there are so many other writers in the city—and even in my neighborhood—that it creates a real sense of community.

GPSW: What made you choose to be a freelance writer?
Emily: After graduating from MIT, I worked at SEED for a while, and it was a great learning experience, but as I got promoted, I found that I was being given more editing and managerial responsibilities. All I really wanted to do was write. I had this huge stack of story ideas accumulating dust in my bedroom, and I figured that the only way to make a dent in it was to strike out on my own and start pitching. Also, freelancing is something that I’d always wanted to try, but I’d been pretty intimidated by the prospect. Eventually, I concluded that if I was going to abandon a full-time job—and risk being poor and hungry—I might as well do it while I was still young. I am not a risk-taker by disposition, but I knew I’d regret it if I never tried to make it as a freelancer. I’m more than three years into my freelance career, and I absolutely love it.

GPSW: What is your favorite topic?
Emily: For years I wanted to be a neuroscientist, so stories about the brain and behavior are my favorite. But one of the reasons I became a science writer is because I had so many scientific interests, so I pitch all sorts of stories, whatever catches my eye. On my blog, I tend to write about things that are especially quirky. Somehow I’ve stumbled into the mini-beat of writing about things that happen when humans decide to get drunk and then handle reptiles. It’s a very small niche.

GPSW: Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Emily: I’m working on my first book. (Or second book, depending on how you define it. It’s complicated.) It’s about how biotechnology is allowing humans to shape animals in new ways, and I’m having a blast. I’d love to do more books after this one. I really don’t see myself going back to a full-time position at a publication; I’m enjoying freelancing too much. I’ve gotten spoiled by the fact that I get to pick and choose my work, only taking on the projects that interest me. I’m also hoping to teach science writing someday.

GPSW: What do you do when you’re not writing?

Emily: Play with my dog, cook, read, waste time online, go to comedy shows, try new restaurants, explore the city. I’ve lived here for five years now, and there’s so much more I’d still like to see and do.

GPSW: Chocolate, strawberry or vanilla?
Emily: Anything but vanilla. My mom used to buy Neapolitan ice cream, and I would always eat the chocolate and strawberry and throw out the vanilla.

GPSW: Is there anything else you’d like to add about science writing?
Emily: It’s not a job that’s going to make you rich and famous, so you’ve got to love it. If you find yourself in some staff writing job that you hate, take a chance and make a change. There are so many different opportunities in the field—and lots of ways to make it as a freelancer, if you have the discipline and drive. You shouldn’t resign yourself to a job that doesn’t excite you.

In August, GPSW chatted with alumnus Stephen Ornes, Class of 2006, about his life and work since graduation.  Steve’s writing has appeared in CR Magazine, NewScientist, Discover, onEarth, and Science News for Kids, and in 2010 he was given an award by the American Association of Healthcare Journalists.  His thesis, “If it Quacks Like a Sphere,” described Grigori Perelman’s work on the Poincaré Conjecture. His website is stephenornes.com.

GPSW: Where do you live and do you like it there?

Steve: I’ve lived in Nashville, Tennessee, for about two years. I do like it here, and I’m hoping that one day my children will cut an album on Music Row. The city isn’t a science powerhouse, like Cambridge, but there are interesting things happening and stories worth telling in this part of the country. Nashville is a city with personality, and I like that.

GPSW: How would you describe your work life?

Steve: It’s hectic but rewarding. I’m always either working against a deadline, or pitching and selling new stories. There’s always something to do. In theory, I could be working all the time, so sometimes it’s difficult to turn it off and do other things.

I work from an office shed in my backyard. My window overlooks a garden, a large walnut tree, and a chicken coop. I do almost all of my interviews by phone or skype, and I do almost all of my writing in the shed. Over time, my career has turned into something resembling a patchwork quilt: I have pieced it together from a number of different types of writing and writing-related jobs. In addition to writing, I do a considerable amount of freelance fact-checking, and I write for other media, including radio scripts. A lot of my writing at the moment is for Science News for Kids, which I think is a great resource for parents and teachers.  I’m particularly proud of an article I did for them about dark matter and dark energy.

As a freelancer, I’m my own boss. That also means I’m the research guy (who finds the stories), the sales/marketing guy (who has to sell the stories), the writer, and the bookkeeper (who makes sure I get paid). Though I love working for myself and by myself, I sometimes wish I had a staff.

GPSW: What’s been your favorite project so far?

Steve: It’s hard to say. My academic background was in math, and I thoroughly enjoy writing about the subject. I wrote two pieces for New Scientist about the work of a Louisiana State University mathematician named Rick Mabry. One was about the mathematics of sharing a pizza fairly; the other was about the game of pool. Mabry is a rare bird: He weaves humor into his peer-reviewed publications, he tackles serious math as well as more offbeat projects, and he’s fun to interview. Those pieces came together nicely.

GPSW: What do you do for fun?

Steve: I run, I garden, and I make up stories about adventurous astronauts for my kids. I used to aspire to play the acoustic saw, but I stopped practicing. Same goes for the ukulele.

GPSW: How do you balance being a journalist and having small children?

Steve: It’s tricky. I work part-time and take care of my kids the rest of the time. I don’t have set hours, and it can be difficult to turn off the work and switch into family mode. On the other hand, it can be hard to stop playing with my kids and get to work. But I’m deeply grateful to my children because I was very undisciplined before they arrived. I used to waste a lot of time; now, I’m more efficient—largely because if I don’t finish a project at a particular time, it might be awhile before I can get back to it. I often feel the pressure of deadlines looming, and it’s a terrific motivator. I still waste time, just not as much.

GPSW: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Steve: In ten years, I’d like to be writing longer features and, providence willing, books. I’ve written short news blurbs, short features, and medium-length features. I can’t see myself in any other occupation, but things can change quickly.

GPSW: Anything else you’d like to say about being a science writer?

Steve: One thing I’ve learned by talking to other science writers is that most of us can’t imagine doing anything else. Some writers are forecasting doom and gloom for journalism in general and science writing in particular; many good journalists have even made their names by blogging about the “end of journalism.” As far as I can tell, no one really knows where the field is heading, or what “science writers” will be doing in ten years. The job is constantly changing. It’s an exciting occupation (or, if you’re a romantic, vocation), and it’s an exciting time to be doing it.

Amitabh Avasthi ’04 will screen his documentary film Tainted Wolves at the the SCINEMA Festival of Science Film, at venues all across Australia.

“This short documentary highlights the impact of a viral infection — common in pet dogs and cats — on gray wolves in Minnesota. It explores the chance mutations that helped a feline virus first jump from cats to dogs, and then to wolves. With the aid of interviews with wolf biologists and virologists, the film tries to help viewers understand how these rare mutations may have occurred, and the conditions that helped canine parvovirus infections race around the world within a year. While conservation efforts are helping gray wolves in the United States make a comeback of sorts, this film suggests that canine parvovirus could limit the further expansion of gray wolves in Minnesota. According to biologists, each year more than 70 per cent of gray wolf pups in Minnesota are lost to canine parvovirus. In the wake of the H1N1 swine flu outbreak, this documentary touches on a topic of growing concern about emerging infections and viruses that can jump species.” (Amitabh Avasthi)

Tainted Wolves has been screened at many other film festivals including the Frozen River Film Festival, Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival, Blue Planet Film Festival, Colorado Environmental Film Festival, Artivist Film Festival and the Vineyard Film Festival.

Tainted Wolves (trailer) from Amitabh Avasthi on Vimeo.

Three members from the Class of 2012 (from clockwise below: Abby McBride, Hannah Krakauer, and Garret Fitzpatrick) garnered notable fellowships in science writing and journalism. Krakauer and Fitzpatrick each won a Taylor-Blakeslee Graduate Fellowship from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, while McBride was awarded the Feldman Fellowship from the National Press Club.

Garret Fitzpatrick, ’12, has been awarded the Rennie Taylor/Alton Blakeslee Graduate Fellowship in Science Writing by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. This award offers “fellowships of $5,000 to both professional journalists and students of outstanding ability who have been accepted for enrollment in graduate-level programs in science writing”.

Congratulations, Garret!