A partial listing by topic. (Please click here for a full chronology dating back to 1987.)
Archaeology and anthropology
Book reviews
Brain, mind, and consciousness
Cancer
Conspiracy theories
Cosmology, physics, and mathematics
The Internet
9/11/2001
Radiation, Los Alamos, Chernobyl, Fukushima
Science and religion
Technology and science
A Future As Clouded as Their Past: The Anasazi and Ancient Climate Change Science Times, New York Times, September 23, 2014.
Virtually Immortal National Geographic, December 2013.
Unearthing Prehistoric Tumors, and Debate Science Times, December 28, 2010.
Den of Antiquities (a review of "Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession" by Craig Childs) New York Times Book Review, August 26, 2010.
Scientist Tries to Connect Migration Dots of Ancient Southwest New York Times, June 30, 2009.
Vanished: A Pueblo Mystery Science Times cover story, April 8, 2008.
A Question of Blame When Societies Fall Science Times cover story, December 25, 2007.
Patience and Fortitude (a review of "Cured," by Nathalia Holt) New York Times Book Review, May 9, 2014.
The Women Behind the Bomb (a review of "The Wives of Los Alamos," by TaraShea Nesbit) New York Times Book Review, April 18, 2014.
What Made Him Tick (a review of Ray Monk's biography of Robert Oppenheimer) New York Times Book Review, June 28, 2013.
Quantum Leaps (a review of "Einstein's Jewish Science," by Steven Gimbel) New York Times Book Review, August 3, 2012.
Psychedelic Universe: What Physics Owes the Counterculture (a review of "How the Hippies Saved Physics" by David Kaiser) New York Times Book Review, June 17, 2011.
Richard Feynman, the Thinker (a review of "Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science" by Lawrence M. Krauss) New York Times Book Review, April 1, 2011.
Den of Antiquities (a review of "Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession" by Craig Childs) New York Times Book Review, August 26, 2010.
Far Out (a review of "Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History of Science" by John D. Barrow) New York Times Book Review, December 5, 2008.
Einstein's Mistakes (a review of a book by Hans C. Ohanian) Los Angeles Times Book Review, October 12, 2008.
The Theory That Ate the World New York Times Book Review, August 24, 2008.
Playing the Odds (a review of Leonard Mlodinow's "The Drunkard's Walk") New York Times Book Review, June 8, 2008.
So You Want to Be a Nobelist (a review of James Watson's "Avoid Boring People") New York Times Book Review, November 25, 2007.
"Einstein" (a review of two new biographies by Jürgen Neffe and Walter Isaacson), Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 22, 2007.
A New Journey into Hofstadter's Mind (a review of "I Am a Strange Loop," by Douglas Hofstadter), Scientific American, March 2007.
Dancing With the Stars (a review of "The Scientist as Rebel" by Freeman Dyson), New York Times Book Review, January 7, 2007.
Endless Universe (a review of a book by Paul J. Steinhardt and Neil Turok), Los Angeles Times Book Review, August 5, 2007.
Meta Physicists (a review of "Faust in Copenhagen" by Gino Segre), New York Times Book Review, June 24, 2007.
The Inelegant Universe (a review of "Not Even Wrong" and "The Trouble With Physics"), Scientific American, September 2006.
Favored by the Gods (a review of three books on the science and history of happiness), Scientific American, June 2006.
Enigmatic (a review of "The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer," by David Leavitt. New York Times Book Review, December 18, 2005.
Star Wars: Episodes 1 and 2 (a review of "Empire of the Stars" by Arthur I. Miller and "Conflict in the Cosmos" by Simon Mitton), New York Times Book Review, June 5, 2005.
A Customer Base of One (a review of "Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop," by Neil Gershenfeld), Scientific American, June 2005.
Revelations from Feynman's Pen (a review of "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman"), Los Angeles Times Book Review, May 22, 2005.
A Really Long History of Time New York Times Book Review, February 27, 2005.
'Faster Than the Speed of Light': E = mc² (Except When It Doesn't) New York Times Book Review, February 10, 2003.
"A New Kind of Science" Review of the book by Stephen Wolfram. New York Times Book Review. June 9, 2002.
Finding Ourselves in Animal Consciousness Undark, March 13, 2017.
Consciousness: The Mind Messing With the Mind Science Times, New York Times, July 5, 2016.
Science of Consciousness Conference Is Carnival of the Mind Science Times, New York Times, May 17, 2016.
Recognizing the Artifice in Artificial Intelligence Science Times, New York Times, April 4, 2016.
Beyond Energy, Matter, Time and Space Science Times, New York Times, July 22, 2014 (with a sidebar, Blind as a Bat: A Case of Mind vs. Body).
Alex Wanted a Cracker, but Did He Want One? Week in Review cover story, September 16, 2007.
Sleights of Mind Science Times cover story, August 21, 2007.
God Is in the Dendrites Slate, April 26, 2007.
Bright Scientists, Dim Notions Week in Review, October 28, 2007.
Who Do You Trust More: G.I. Joe or A.I. Joe? Week in Review, February 20, 2005.
How Memories Are Made Time Magazine. June 12, 2000.
Terra Incognita New York Times Magazine. October 22, 1999.
A Case of Cancer, 1.7 million BC Science Times, New York Times, August 22, 2016.
Pondering the Prospect of Contagious Cancer Science Times, New York Times, February 22, 2016.
In Every Breath, a Cancer Risk? Science Times, New York Times, January 26, 2016.
First World Myopia About Cancer Science Times, New York Times, December 22, 2015.
When Radiation Isn't the Real Risk Science Times, New York Times, September 22, 2015.
Cancer Cells as Cheaters in the Game of Life Science Times, New York Times, July 28, 2015.
Human Ingenuity Takes On Cancer's Darwinian Ways Science Times, New York Times, May 19, 2015.
A Cancer Cluster Is Tough to Prove Science Times, New York Times, February 17, 2015.
Random Acts of Being Human Science Times, New York Times, January 20, 2015.
Apple a Day and Cancer, Part 2 Science Times, New York Times, April 24, 2014.
An Apple a Day, and Other Myths Science Times, New York Times, April 21, 2014.
A Tumor, the Embryo's Evil Twin Science Times, New York Times, March 17, 2014.
Why Everyone Seems to Have Cancer Sunday Review cover story, New York Times, January 5, 2014.
The Long Trail of Cancer's Clues Scientific American, November 2013.
Five Best Books About Living with Disease Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2013.
How Many People Were Killed by Love Canal? The surprising statistics of environmental cancers Slate, August 28, 2013.
Cancer's Primeval Power and Murderous Purpose Bloomberg View, August 28, 2013.
The Long Shadow: Cancer Has Afflicted People Since Prehistoric Times Discover Magazine, July-August 2013 issue.
Cancer Cluster or Chance? Slate, March 19, 2013.
Cancer's Secrets Come Into Sharper Focus Science Times cover story, August 16, 2011.
Radiation's Enduring Afterglow Week in Review cover story, New York Times, March 27, 2011.
Unearthing Prehistoric Tumors Science Times, December 28, 2010.
On Top of Microwave Mountain Slate, April 21, 2010.
Why We Keep Dreaming of Little Green Men The Sunday Review, New York Times, May 13, 2016.
Everything Is Illuminati: Why can't the Catholic Church shake free of a 200-year-old conspiracy theory? Slate, May 14, 2009.
On the Trail of the Illuminati: A Journalist's Search for The Conspiracy That Rules the World, published in the anthology Secrets of Angels and Demons, edited by Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer, December 2004 (pdf download).
Physicists Recover From a Summer's Particle 'Hangover' Science Times, New York Times, October 17, 2016.
A Subatomic Existential Crisis (or, Trying to Believe in the Neutrino) Science Times, New York Times, October 19, 2015.
Gamblers, Scientists and the Mysterious Hot Hand The Sunday Review, New York Times, October 18, 2015.
The Intelligent-Life Lottery Science Times, New York Times, August 19, 2014.
The Man Who Hated Gravity Science Times, New York Times, June 24, 2014. (Part 2, June 25.)
A Trip Back in Time and Space Science Times cover story, July 10, 2007.
What We Don't Know: Why is Fundamental Physics So Messy? Wired, February 2007.
Oh, for the Simple Days of the Big Bang Week in Review, October 8, 2006.
The Math Was Complex, the Intentions, Strikingly Simple Week in Review, August 27, 2006.
The Books in the Basement, to be published in a forthcoming volume of essays on Einstein's "Miracle Year," edited by John Brockman, 2005.
Atomic Scales: Striking Notes of Progress on the World's Tiniest Guitar Week in Review, November 9, 2003.
Tongue-Tied by Physics: The Ineffable Lightness of Being Week in Review, October 12, 2003.
Deep in Universe's Software Lurk Beautiful, Mysterious Numbers Science Times, May 20, 2003.
Doughnuts and Spheres: What is the Poincare Conjecture All About? Week in Review, April 20, 2003.
The Purr of the Qubit Time Magazine, February 24, 2003.
A Theory That's Not Even Wrong Week in Review, November 17, 2002.
Rene Thom, 79, Inventor of Catastrophe Theory, Dies New York Times, November 10, 2002.
Per Bak, Physicist of Sudden Change, Dies at 54 New York Times, October 29, 2002.
The Rise and Fall of Element 118 Science Times cover story. October 15, 2002.
From Here to Infinity: Obsessed With the Magic of Primes Science Times. September 4, 2002.
Sometimes, the March of Science Goes Backward Science Times. July 23, 2002.
Science Revokes a Poetic License Week in Review. April 28, 2002.
Supercomputing@Home Science Times cover story. April 23, 2002.
In Classic Math Riddle, DNA Gives a Satisfying Answer Science Times. March 19, 2002.
Years of Research Yield Nothing, and That's Good News for Physicists Science Times cover story. February 5, 2002.
More Up There Than Meets the Eye Week in Review. January 20, 2002.
Colors Are Truly Brilliant in Trek Up Mount Metaphor Science Times. December 25, 2001
Quantum Stew: How Physicists Are Redefining Reality's Rules Science Times essay, October 16, 2001.
Physicists Strive to Build a Black Hole Science Times cover story. September 11, 2001.
Suddenly, the Cosmos Becomes More Fickle Week in Review cover story. August 19, 2001.
Searching for Alien Heartbeats Week in Review cover story. August 5, 2001.
Back to Basics: How Did Space Get Its Dimensions? Science Times. June 26, 2001.
Connoisseurs of Chaos Offer a Valuable Product: Randomness Science Times cover story. June 12, 2001.
Computing, One Atom at a Time Science Times cover story. March 27, 2001.
What's So New in a Newfangled Science? Week in Review. June 16, 2002.
Challenging Particle Physics as Path to Truth Science Times cover story. December 4, 2001.
Claude Shannon, Mathematician, Dies at 84 New York Times, February 27, 2001.
A Passion for Physical Realms, Minute and Massive Science Times. February 20, 2001.
The Ultimate Laptop: A Black Hole Science Times cover story. September 5, 2000.
10 Physics Questions to Ponder for a Millennium or Two Science Times. August 15, 2000.
The Jaguar and the Fox Atlantic Monthly. July 2000.
Refining the Cat's-Eye View of the Cosmos Week in Review. July 16, 2000.
New Generation of Physicists Sustains a Permanent Revolution Science Times cover story. June 20, 2000.
Physicists Finally Find a Way to Test Superstring Theory Science Times cover story. April 4, 2000.
Afloat in a Cosmic Hall of Mirrors Week in Review. March 5, 2000.
KING ALGORITHM: An Oracle for Our Time, Part Man, Part Machine Week in Review cover story, September 23, 2007.
The Nitpicking of the Masses vs. the Authority of the Experts (Britannica vs. Wikipedia), Science Times essay, January 3, 2006.
Sometimes the Information Highway Isn't Paved With Silicon Week in Review, May 22, 2005.
Cognitive Rascal in the Amorous Swamp: A Robot Battles Spam Science Times essay, April 27, 2004.
SP@M SHEN@NIG@NS!!: That Gibberish in Your In-Box May Be Good News Week in Review, January 25, 2004.
Lost in Cyberspace: If You Can't Touch It, Can You Steal It? Week in Review. December 16, 2001
First Cells, Then Species, Now the Web Science Times cover story. December 26, 2000.
Only Connect: The Coming of the Omninet Wired. January 2000.
Double Bind Week in Review cover story. November 11, 2001.
Order of Magnitude The Week in Review. September 16, 2001.
Radiation's Enduring Afterglow Week in Review cover story, New York Times, March 27, 2011.
What Made Him Tick (a review of Ray Monk's biography of Robert Oppenheimer) New York Times Book Review, June 28, 2013.
The Nuclear Tourist: An Unforeseen Legacy of the Chernobyl Meltdown National Geographic, October 2014 (with Sneaking Into Chernobyl).
A Visit to the Russian Woodpecker Science Times, New York Times, November 17, 2014.
When Radiation Isn't the Real Risk Science Times, New York Times, September 22, 2015.
'Babushkas of Chernobyl' Finds Life Thriving in Scarred Land Science Times, New York Times, November 23, 2015.
The Widening World of Hand-Picked Truths Science Times, New York Times, August 24, 2015.
Seeking Stars, Finding Creationism Science Times, New York Times, October 21, 2014.
Creation, in the Eye of the Beholder Science Times, New York Times, May 20, 2014.
A Creationist's Influence on Darwin Science Times, New York Times, May 23, 2014.
Vatican's Celestial Eye, Seeking Not Angels but Data New York Times, June 23, 2009.
A Free-for-All on Science and Religion Science Times cover story, November 21, 2006.
Scientists on Religion (a review of books by Owen Gingerich, Francis Collins, Richard Dawkins, and Carl Sagan), Scientific American, October 2006 (pdf download).
Worlds Apart: The Dalai Lama Comes to Washington Tricycle, Spring 2006.
Testing Faith; Science and Religion, Still Worlds Apart Week in Review, April 9, 2006.
War of the Worlds Science & Spirit, January 2006 (pdf download). Getting a Rational Grip on Religion (a review of "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon," by Daniel C. Dennett), Scientific American, January 2006.
For the Anti-Evolutionists, Hope in High Places Week in Review, October 2, 2005.
God, Science, and a Standoff in Cambridge Science Times essay, September 27, 2005.
'The Universe in a Single Atom': Reason and Faith New York Times Book Review, September 18, 2005.
Worshipping in the Church of Einstein (or How I Found Fischbeck's Rule), published in the anthology Secrets of Angels and Demons, edited by Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer, December 2004 (pdf download).
Can Science Prove the Existence of God? Science Times 25th Anniversary Issue, November 11, 2003.
Contrarian's Contrarian: Galileo's Science Polemics Science Times, August 12, 2003.
Science and Religion: Bridging the Great Divide Science Times essay. June 30, 1998.
Chasing Lightning National Geographic Magazine, August 2012.
Radiation's Enduring Afterglow Week in Review cover story, New York Times, March 27, 2011.
On Top of Microwave Mountain Slate, April 21, 2010.
Plugging Into the Sun National Geographic, September 2009.
Who Do You Trust More: G.I. Joe or A.I. Joe? Week in Review, February 20, 2005.
With
Sheet Metal Cutouts, the Tree of Life Emerged, and Spot the
Double Helix New York Times special section on the 50th
anniversary of DNA, February 25, 2003.
Loss of the Shuttle: The Real Science Happens Down Here on Earth
Week in Review, February 10, 2003.
Oil and Water: Why Prizes and Science Don't Mix Week in Review.
October 13, 2002.
To
Err Is Human Week in Review cover story. July 14, 2002.
At Los Alamos, Two Visions of Supercomputing Science
Times cover story. June 25, 2002.
Surprise! Elections Have Margins of Error, Too Week in Review.
November 19, 2000.
A Small Step for Man, a Giant Leap of Faith Week in Review
cover story. February 20, 2000.