Kristen's narrative long-form features have covered a town in Cape Cod where many were convinced a wind turbine was making them sick (New York magazine, print), a community of disabled people thriving in the virtual world (Wired), a pastor throwing his all into building an online church (Wired), an indigenous community in Panama using GPS to defend their forest (Al Jazeera), a battle between haole hippies and Hawaiian natives over geothermal energy in Hawaii (Al Jazeera), a woman coming to terms with her identity after a face transplant (Nautilus), and the potentially violent origins of bog bodies (Nautilus).
Her news-driven articles have covered a wide range of science subjects, from the rise of voice-analysis technologies aimed at diagnosing mental health conditions to heated battles over operating room attire.
Her news-driven articles have covered a wide range of science subjects, from the rise of voice-analysis technologies aimed at diagnosing mental health conditions to heated battles over operating room attire.
FEATURED CLIPS
Can Wind Turbines Make You Sick? Or Crazy?
Some people living in the shadows of wind turbines say they’re making them sick. Almost as
upsetting: Their neighbors don’t feel a thing.
New York (print)
Some people living in the shadows of wind turbines say they’re making them sick. Almost as
upsetting: Their neighbors don’t feel a thing.
New York (print)
First They Got Sick, Then They Moved into a Virtual Utopia
Real life Fran was a hiker and a dancer. But when Parkinson's stole her mobility,
she discovered a new home--and a community of others like her--inside Second Life.
Wired
Real life Fran was a hiker and a dancer. But when Parkinson's stole her mobility,
she discovered a new home--and a community of others like her--inside Second Life.
Wired
Pastor D.J. Soto is Putting His Faith in a Virtual Reality Church
D.J. Soto believes Christianity can be renewed through worship in virtual space. His VR mega-church is even attracting atheists.
Wired
D.J. Soto believes Christianity can be renewed through worship in virtual space. His VR mega-church is even attracting atheists.
Wired
New Weapons in Old Fight to Save Forests
The Wounaan people of Panama are taking up drones and GPS to protect forest on their
tribal lands from marauding loggers. Their chief was already killed in the fight.
Al Jazeera
The Wounaan people of Panama are taking up drones and GPS to protect forest on their
tribal lands from marauding loggers. Their chief was already killed in the fight.
Al Jazeera
Paradise Lost
Supercolonies of tiny fire ants are threatening the farms and beaches of Hawaii.
The ants are just one of many invasive species plaguing the islands.
Al Jazeera
Supercolonies of tiny fire ants are threatening the farms and beaches of Hawaii.
The ants are just one of many invasive species plaguing the islands.
Al Jazeera
How to Adapt to Your Face Transplant
The human face is a kind of synecdoche for the self, and yet a face transplant may
be less disruptive to the psyche than we might expect.
Nautilus
The human face is a kind of synecdoche for the self, and yet a face transplant may
be less disruptive to the psyche than we might expect.
Nautilus
The Curious Case of the Bog Bodies
Why do so many perfectly preserved corpses found in Europe's peat bogs
show signs of violent death?
Nautilus
Why do so many perfectly preserved corpses found in Europe's peat bogs
show signs of violent death?
Nautilus
Additional Work
Proto Magazine
Something in Your Voice
New speech analysis technologies can help diagnose mental illness. But they also raise troubling questions.
Proto
The Telltale Strand
The genomics revolution has hit the courtroom, with the first case that relies on a powerful
new DNA reading technique. Called next generation sequencing, it will transform forensic science.
Proto
The genomics revolution has hit the courtroom, with the first case that relies on a powerful
new DNA reading technique. Called next generation sequencing, it will transform forensic science.
Proto
Is Genetic Privacy a Myth?
Genetic tests and genome sequencing are generating terabytes of sensitive private
data. How can they be kept safe?
Proto
Genetic tests and genome sequencing are generating terabytes of sensitive private
data. How can they be kept safe?
Proto
Medium: I Contain Multitudes
(a series on the microbiome from Tangled Bank Studios, of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
Mummies Speak to Us Via Ancient Bacteria
Preserved mummy bacteria can tell us a lot about the evolution of pathogens and antibiotic resistance.
Medium
Preserved mummy bacteria can tell us a lot about the evolution of pathogens and antibiotic resistance.
Medium
Inside the Search for New Antibiotics
As the threat of drug-resistant superbugs grows, scientists are hunting for new
cures in some of the planet's dirtiest places.
Medium
As the threat of drug-resistant superbugs grows, scientists are hunting for new
cures in some of the planet's dirtiest places.
Medium
Symbiosis: It's Complicated
Many organisms are locked into codependent relationships with the microbes that live within them. But sometimes these resident microbes themselves play host to even tinier guests.
Medium
Many organisms are locked into codependent relationships with the microbes that live within them. But sometimes these resident microbes themselves play host to even tinier guests.
Medium
News
Fighting Anti-Vaxxers with a Marathon Science Reading
If anything can get past the vitriol of the vaccine wars, it's On Immunity.
The Verge
If anything can get past the vitriol of the vaccine wars, it's On Immunity.
The Verge
Every Sunday, There’s a Protest Outside John Paulson’s Enormous Townhouse
It involves an open pit gold mine in a small town in Romania.
New York (web)
It involves an open pit gold mine in a small town in Romania.
New York (web)
Food Web: Trade Networks May be Key to Solving Hunger
Global trade helps nations meet food demand, but also increases the possibility that shocks to food production will cross borders.
Earth Institute
Global trade helps nations meet food demand, but also increases the possibility that shocks to food production will cross borders.
Earth Institute
Why do Floods Happen on Sunny Days?
An insidious breed of inundation is quietly consuming towns and cities along the U.S. coastline and around the world.
Earth Institute
An insidious breed of inundation is quietly consuming towns and cities along the U.S. coastline and around the world.
Earth Institute
The Battle of the Bouffant
Guidelines for operating room attire may change in 2019 and ease tension over donning the controversial bouffant.
Proto
Guidelines for operating room attire may change in 2019 and ease tension over donning the controversial bouffant.
Proto
Should Older Patients Have their Own ED?
Guidelines for operating room attire may change in 2019 and ease tension over donning the controversial bouffant.
Proto
Guidelines for operating room attire may change in 2019 and ease tension over donning the controversial bouffant.
Proto
Why Doctors Must Solve the Suicide Problem
As despair deaths reach historic levels in the U.S., healthcare checkpoints may be the best place for intervention.
Proto
As despair deaths reach historic levels in the U.S., healthcare checkpoints may be the best place for intervention.
Proto
The Shape of Things
Design choices pervade the health care system, and pediatrician Joyce Lee wants to make them smarter.
Proto
Design choices pervade the health care system, and pediatrician Joyce Lee wants to make them smarter.
Proto
A Touch of Sugar
The science behind placebos has come a long way since the sugar pill.
Ted Kaptchuk is leading the revolution.
Proto
The science behind placebos has come a long way since the sugar pill.
Ted Kaptchuk is leading the revolution.
Proto
Same Pig, Second Act
After major breakthrough in gene editing, pig organs show new promise for use in humans.
Proto
After major breakthrough in gene editing, pig organs show new promise for use in humans.
Proto
Unsound the Alarm
Hundreds of alarms compete for a clinician's attention. Can less noise mean better care?
Proto
Hundreds of alarms compete for a clinician's attention. Can less noise mean better care?
Proto
New Allies in the HIV Fight
An MGH program in South Africa partners with young women to research the earliest phase of HIV infection.
Proto
An MGH program in South Africa partners with young women to research the earliest phase of HIV infection.
Proto
Power Glove Makes Music with the Wave of a Hand
Popular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics
Guernica
Nabokov, Resurrected
The Original of Laura was written at the end of Nabokov's life, and he asked his wife to destroy it.
Now that his son Dmitri has published the work, it's tempting to see it as the ultimate
Nabokovian prank.
Guernica
The Original of Laura was written at the end of Nabokov's life, and he asked his wife to destroy it.
Now that his son Dmitri has published the work, it's tempting to see it as the ultimate
Nabokovian prank.
Guernica
The Man Behind the Curtain
For Brazilian-born artist and modern-day trickster Vik Muniz, subverting his own images is all
part of the game.
Guernica
For Brazilian-born artist and modern-day trickster Vik Muniz, subverting his own images is all
part of the game.
Guernica
OnEarth and Glacierhub
Saving Lives in a Hotter World // OnEarth
Glacier Archaeology Comes of Age // Glacierhub
Artists Stage Glacier Worship to Fight Climate Change // Glacierhub
John Muir: America’s Ice Chief // Glacierhub
Iceland's "Zombie Glacier" // Glacierhub
Going to Extremes: Glacier Boarding, a New Sport // Glacierhub
Filthy Minded Teenager // OnEarth
