Annalee Newitz writes science fiction and nonfiction. They are the author of three novels: The Terraformers, The Future of Another Timeline, and Autonomous, which won the Lambda Literary Award. As a science journalist, they are the author of Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind, Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age and Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, which was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize in science. They are a writer for the New York Times and elsewhere, and have a monthly column in New Scientist. They have published in The Washington Post, Slate, Scientific American, Ars Technica, The New Yorker, and Technology Review, among others. They are the co-host of the Hugo Award-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct, and have contributed to the public radio shows Science Friday, On the Media, KQED Forum, and Here and Now. Previously, they were the founder of io9, and served as the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.
7:34
After A Radical Brain Surgery, A Normal Life
After surgery that removed one-sixth of his brain, a 10-year old boy is living a remarkably normal life—a tribute to the plasticity of the human brain.
25:07
Your Summer Science Reading List 2018
Ira Flatow and guests give you the best summer reading assignment ever.
6:54
Neolithic People Performed Brain Surgery On Cows
Plus, evidence for 19th-century abortion views and California weather that will make your head spin.
7:32
Why You Don’t See ‘Goosefoot’ On Your Thanksgiving Dinner Table
Native American crops you’ve never heard of, a new timeline for plants, and measuring the stench of the Neolithic era.
7:34
A Return To The Moon, An Ancient Bludgeon, And Anesthetized Plants
This week, President Trump signed a directive that would set NASA’s sights on the moon…again.
7:39
Along The Kelp Highway
Archeologists agree on an early coastal route for ancient humans crossing from Siberia…and it’s not the land bridge. Plus, dog sacrifices in the Bronze Age.
34:05
Writing The Fantastic In 2017
From other planets to our own future, writers can take us places we’ve never seen. Authors Cory Doctorow, N.K. Jemisin, and Annalee Newitz are among them.
A Robot Trains For War
A robot gets a painful reminder during a training exercise in this excerpt from Autonomous by Annalee Newitz.
12:18
Bad Plumbing? There Goes The Empire
Researchers say lead pipes of ancient Rome tell the story of the city’s rise and fall.
8:17
A Tower Of Skulls, A Frog Explosion, And A Study Of Cycles
Science journalist Annalee Newitz joins us to talk about some of the stories from the week in science.