Whether reporting on catastrophic flooding and erosion, diving deep into the science of headaches, or taking home some of journalism’s most prestigious honors, Knight Science Journalism Fellows have been breaking new ground in storytelling, documenting the world with nuance and clarity, and making a difference with their journalism in recent months. Here’s what some of our esteemed alumni have been up to:
High-Profile Projects
Thiago Medaglia (’20) and his team at Ambiental Media recently launched an Extreme Rainfall Vulnerability Index for Rio de Janeiro — a data-driven tool using satellite imagery and AI to identify where the city is most vulnerable to floods and landslides. The index, published with support from the Pulitzer Center, is part of Rio 60°C, a collaboration between Ambiental’s journalists and researchers from the Fluminense Federal University in Brazil. And the findings are urgent: Ambiental reports that nearly 600,000 homes — or 21 percent of Rio — are in areas of high vulnerability to disasters resulting from rainfall, with historically underserved communities most affected. The project is open, accessible, and designed to inform both the public and decision-makers.
Ambiental is an award-winning newsroom, with global recognition from WAN-IFRA and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Melanie D.G. Kaplan (’22) earned two bylines in the Spring 2025 issue of National Parks Magazine: “From Sea Scrap to Sculpture: Artists Transform Marine Debris Into Art, Educating National Park Visitors in the Process” and “A Cape Crisis: An update on the collapsing houses at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.” She was also interviewed for the podcast “The Secret Lives of Parks” about the Cape Hatteras story.
The Cape Hatteras story was an update on a piece Kaplan wrote in 2023. “From when I first started reporting on coastal erosion at Cape Hatteras National Seashore for my first feature, I kept an eye on the privately owned homes that were collapsing onto the beach in Rodanthe, North Carolina,” Kaplan said. “After the article came out in 2023, I kept seeing news alerts for toppling houses — six gave way in 2024 alone. So I was glad to be able to write an update this spring — and also to report that the NPS has been working on a pilot project to purchase some of these threatened homes before they fall into the water and end up in pieces, on the beach and in ocean.”
Nicky Twilley (’21) and Cynthia Graber (‘13) recently traveled to Mexico to gather reporting for a series of Gastropod episodes — with the help of incoming KSJ Fellow, Rodrigo Perez Ortega. The first episode to come out of that reporting, “Feasting with Montezuma: Food and Farming in a Floating City,” is now available for streaming; it features axolotls, chinampas, and delicious pre-Hispanic tacos. “This was particularly fun because it demonstrates the power of collaboration between KSJ Fellows past and present,” said Twilley. “We couldn’t have made this episode without Rodrigo!”
Vivien Marx (’98) published the story “Their Personal Paths in Science,” in Nature Methods in May. The piece, about the many pressures scientists face, including those related to identity, was accompanied by an added resource list about transgender scientists. “It has been so moving to hear their perspectives,” Marx said of the scientists she interviewed for the story. “Troubling, certainly, but also empowering — at least I hope so.”
Marx said she was happy she could share with others what these researchers say and what they are experiencing. “It’s been a while since my time as a KSJ fellow,” she said, “but I do think the fellowship showed me there is a network of us science journos and it gave me stamina and muscle for these kinds of situations.”
Lindsay Gellman (’21) graced the front page of The New York Times in May, with her investigation into an unscrupulous Alzheimer’s treatment plan: “An Expensive Alzheimer’s Lifestyle Plan Offers False Hope, Experts Say.”
Mark Harris (‘14) is a consultant producer, narrator, and interviewee for the new feature-length documentary “Titan: The OceanGate Disaster,” which examines the events leading up to the infamous submersible tragedy. The documentary is available on Netflix.
New on the Bookshelf
Christoph Droesser (’94) has a new children’s book out, called “Einmal Zukunft und Zurück,” or “To the Future and Back,” published in German by Gabriel. It’s about how hard it is to predict the future, and includes some predictions for the next 50 years, their likelihood rated with a “futurometer.” Droesser presented the book at a public event on March 2 in the “Futurium” museum in Berlin.
“Einmal Zukunft und Zurück” is Droesser’s fifth children’s book; he began writing in the genre six years ago. His previous book “100 Kinder” (“100 children”) was awarded the German Youth Literature Prize.
In June, Droesser wrote a piece for the kids’ page of Die Zeit called “Jetzt fahr ich!” (“Now I’m driving!”), about the experience of letting his 13-year-old son take a Waymo ride alone (but closely followed by Droesser in his own car). Europeans and most Americans “are still thrilled by the idea of self-driving cars, while San Franciscans don’t even turn their heads when an empty Waymo comes by,” Droesser said. “And they even put their kids into those cars and let them ride alone.”
Tom Zeller Jr. (‘14) takes on one of the most maligned conditions known to medicine in his debut book, “The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction―and a Search for Relief,” published in July. Guided by Zeller’s own struggle with cluster headaches, the book explores the science behind migraines, clusters, and other forms of chronic head pain that affect 40 percent of the population but have gone vastly under-researched.
In a review for the Wall Street Journal, Brandy Schillace wrote that “Mr. Zeller provides the best articulation of what cannot be fully communicated.” What the book offers, “most powerfully, is testimony,” Schillace added. “It is not merely a headache, and it deserves our attention.”
In July, Zeller also wrote the related essay, “Why Do Headaches Feel So Different From Other Kinds of Pain?” for Undark Magazine, where he is Editor-In-Chief.
Wojtek Brzezinski (’23) published his latest book, “Co to będzie? Krótki przewodnik po końcach świata” (“Gracious, What Now? A Brief Guide to the End of the World”), in June. Brzezinski was also named the new editor of the Polish Academy of Sciences’ news website, “Academia.”
The latest book from Jason Bittel (‘21), “Grizzled: Love Letters to 50 of North America’s Least Understood Animals,” will be published in March 2026 by National Geographic/Penguin. “This book is very much a product of the KSJ program,” Jason said. “Not only from what I learned there, but also the mentorship of Deborah Blum, as well as the support of my KSJ class, truly sustained me during the very, very long pipeline from pitching to publishing.”
Plaudits and Prizes:
Caty Arevalo (‘14), along with four colleagues at EFE Ciencia — Noemi Gomez, Elena Camacho, Carmen Rodriguez and Raul Casado — have won the CSIC-BBVA Foundation for Scientific Communication Award, the most prestigious science journalism award in Spain. The jury cited the EFE Ciencia team for a journalism job done with excellence, integrity, and dedication, and added that Arevalo and her colleagues have spent more than two decades explaining to readers the relevance of scientific findings without getting carried away by flashy or controversial headlines.
“I am particularly proud of being part of a mostly women team, believing that communicating science effectively, without getting hysterical for the clickbait, is key for the kind of journalism that contributes to a better world,” Said Arevalo. “I am happy that those who nominated us for the award and the jury share that appreciation.”
The CSIC-BBVA Foundation for Scientific Communication Award is given annually by Spain’s National Research Council (CSIC) and the BBVA Foundation, and it comes with a prize of 40,000 euros. An award ceremony will be held in October at the CSIC headquarters in Madrid.
Yarden Michaeli (’25) was shortlisted for the prestigious European Press Prize, in the innovation category, for his digital project “Road to Redemption: How Israel’s War Against Hamas Turned Into a Springboard for Jewish Settlement in Gaza.”
Jyoti Madhusoodanan (’21) was awarded the American Association of Cancer Research June Biedler Prize for Cancer Journalism in April. Madhusoodanan won in the magazine category for her Scientific American article, “These Cancers Were Beyond Treatment — But Might Not Be Anymore.”
What We’re Writing
The following compendium includes a sample of recent alumni stories curated by Federico Kukso (‘16):
Yarden Michaeli (’25): “Pasta Won’t Help. Gaza Is on the Brink of an Exponential Surge in Starvation Deaths,” Haaretz.
Kai Kupferschmidt (‘24): “Will long-lasting HIV preventive be a game changer — or a missed opportunity?” Science.
Peter Whoriskey (‘24): “The billionaire betting on crypto — and the skeptic betting against him,” The Washington Post.
Jessica Hamzelou (‘23): “We’re learning more about what weight-loss drugs do to the body,” MIT Technology Review.
Andrada Fiscutean (‘20): “How organizations can secure their AI-generated code,” CSO.
Richard Fisher (‘20): “What style of curiosity do you practise?,” Psyche.
Tim De Chant (‘19): “Final GOP bill kneecaps renewables and hydrogen but lifts nuclear and geothermal,” TechCrunch.
Jeff DelViscio (‘19): “What Greenland’s Ancient Past Reveals about Its Fragile Future,” Scientific American.
Rachel E. Gross (‘19): “Sex Hormones Are Brain Hormones. What Does This Mean for Treating Brain Diseases?” The New York Times.
Teresa Carr (‘18): “This Automatic Pill Dispenser Makes Sure My Mom Takes the Right Pills at the Right Time,” The New York Times.
Mićo Tatalović (‘18): “Serbia limits academics’ research time to just one hour a day,” Chemistry World.
Jane Qiu (‘18): “Inside the thriving wild-animal markets that could start the next pandemic” and “An animal source of mpox emerges — and it’s a squirrel,” Nature; “From ‘Frankenstein Science’ to Cosmopolitan Ethics: Overlooked Perspectives on the ‘CRISPR Babies’ Scandal,” The CRISPR Journal; “The Covid ‘lab leak’ theory isn’t just a rightwing conspiracy — pretending that’s the case is bad for science,” The Guardian.
Anja Krieger (‘16): “How (Not) to Make a Plastics Treaty — Nothing is Agreed Until Everything is Agreed,” Plastisphere Podcast.
Federico Kukso (‘16): “The Way of the Dog: How This Beloved Animal Conquered the American Continent,” in Spanish, Agencia SINC.
Betsy Mason (’16): “The Coyote Next Door,” bioGraphic.
Rod McCullom (‘16): “Norway Is All In on Electric Cars. What Can the U.S. Learn?,” Undark.
Giovana Girardi (‘15): “When fear of violence meets stress from extreme heat,” in Portuguese, Agência Pública.
Yves Sciama (‘14): “Oysters, sparse survivors of forgotten marine forests,” in French, Mediapart.
Alister Doyle (‘12): “My tiny contribution to Harvard: an English accent,” Medium.
Valeria Román (‘05): “There is concern about the risk of more cases of rabies in animals in Latin America,” in Spanish, Infobae.
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