Danna Staaf earned a PhD in invertebrate biology from Stanford University and has been studying cephalopods for decades. Her writing on marine life has appeared in Science, Atlas Obscura, and many other outlets, while her research has appeared in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Aquaculture, and others, as well as in numerous textbooks. She is the author of multiple books, including Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods and Nursery Earth: The Wondrous Lives of Baby Animals and the Extraordinary Ways They Shape Our World. She lives with her family in Northern California.