Awad and his MIT colleagues gave millions of people the self-driving-car trolley problem. In a recent visit to KSJ, he talked about what he learned. A self-driving car approaches a crosswalk and suddenly its brakes fail. It can avoid a person who’s crossing legally by swerving into the opposite lane, but then it will hit […]
This Year’s Fellows: Tim De Chant
The NOVA Next founder wants to research and better understand the ongoing transition to low-carbon energy sources. Before Tim De Chant became a journalist, he “accidentally majored in biology.” As a double major in environmental studies and English at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, he found that, between his two chosen fields of study, he […]
Alumni Notes: October 31, 2018
October 31, 2018 On October 1, Paula Apsell (’84) — member of the inaugural class of Knight Science Journalism fellows — collected a trophy to which few science journalists can lay claim: An Emmy statuette. In a ceremony at Frederick Rose Hall in New York City, the Senior Executive Producer of NOVA became the first […]
This Year’s Fellows: Jason Dearen
“Nothing feels better than when your story holds up under scrutiny.” Awards are great, but Jason Dearen is most proud of the time his writing got a man out of jail. In 2005, Dearen published a series of articles for the Oakland Tribune investigating the case of Matthew Deger, a schizophrenic patient caught in a […]
Alumni Notes: October 15, 2018
Here’s what alumni are writing: a compendium from Federico Kukso (2015-16). Valeria Román (2004-05): “Argentina’s economic crisis could trigger scientific ‘collapse,’ researchers warn,” Science. Lauren M. Whaley (2016-17): “New survey paints dire picture of challenges black moms face in health care system,” Center for Health Journalism. Wayt Gibbs (1999-2000): “Eyes on the High Seas: Illegal […]
David Baron, on that other “Great American Eclipse”
The longtime radio journalist took KSJ fellows behind the scenes of his book on the 19th century eclipse that drew a swarm of scientists to America’s western frontier. David Baron’s first total solar eclipse sighting changed his life. “I was just seeing a sky I had never seen before,” he said of the February 1998 […]