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Scientific American
18 hours ago
- Science
- Scientific American
's July/August 2025 Issue
Jeffery DelViscio Greenland's Frozen Secret In the spring of 2024 Jeffery DelViscio (seen freezing above), who is Scientific American 's chief multimedia editor, spent a month on a scientific expedition on the Greenland ice sheet. The sun never set, the wind never stopped, and it was often –20 degrees Fahrenheit even inside his tent. 'After the first night, I was like, 'I think I've made a huge mistake. This is the most uncomfortable I think I've ever been in my life,'' he says. 'The weirdest part is how quickly you can acclimatize to it.' His body adjusted to the new normal after only a few days. On the ice stream, survival was a group exercise for DelViscio, the researchers, and their survival specialists (including a polar bear guard). DelViscio witnessed the extraction of a special bedrock core, hoisted up from below the ice, which he documents in our cover story and his accompanying photographs in this issue. DelViscio, who has a master's degree in earth science, once collected and studied similar cores from the seafloor. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. 'There's memory everywhere,' DelViscio says. Cores like these reveal our planet's climate history, and the rock below Greenland's ice will help scientists learn when the island was last ice-free. 'What this piece of rock remembers has incredibly large implications for how we live as a human species going forward,' he says. Elizabeth Anne Brown Pay Dirt Every sunny winter weekend in Denmark, 'gold is coming out of the ground,' says Elizabeth Anne Brown, a journalist based in Copenhagen. For years Brown lurked in a Facebook group where Denmark's metal detectorists post photographs of intricate, hand-carved Viking treasures they've unearthed. 'It's infuriating when you're at home on the couch and don't know any Danish farmers you can ask if you can go metal detect on their property,' she says of her own predicament. Instead she began tagging along as a reporter. For her feature in this issue, Brown covered this incredible community of treasure hunters in Denmark—and the archaeologists who partner with them to document the country's past. Wielding a metal detector requires a lot of physical and mental skill, she says; many detectorists can tell just from the beeps what type of metal object lies under the ground. 'I think some people are really just born with an innate desire to search and reach out for connection with the past,' Brown says. She considers herself one of them. 'I grew up looking for pottery fragments and old bottles in a stream behind my grandparents' farm' in Alabama, she says. As a journalist, she's always searching for strange, odd creatures to report on—or, as she describes it, she's 'on the 'lil fella' beat.' For a second story in this issue, in the Advances section, Brown wrote about velvet worms, which are powerful, murderous and wonderful, she says: 'Move over axolotls, move over tardigrades: velvet worms are the next big thing.' Maia Szalavitz Can Psychopathy Be Cured? Journalist Maia Szalavitz often writes about addiction. It's a heavily stigmatized condition, and she has experienced it firsthand: in her 20s she had addictions to cocaine and heroin. 'Trying to figure out what the heck happened and how I went from straight-A student who got into Columbia to shooting up 40 times a day was a big part of how I ended up doing science writing,' she says. 'I wanted to understand, How do we become who we are?' For her feature article in this issue, Szalavitz explored what is perhaps the most stigmatizing label in mental health: psychopathy, particularly the callous and unemotional traits in children that can develop into adult psychopathy. 'If you're genetically prone to it, it's as much not your fault as if you were genetically prone to addiction or bipolar disorder,' she says. But what does that mean when psychopathy often involves remorseless harm done to others? 'I'm always interested in the way our systems of morality intersect with medicine,' Szalavitz says. About half of children with these traits don't progress to psychopathy in adulthood, and many of them 'learn to do cognitively what other people naturally do emotionally,' she says. 'I'm always interested in seeing how people deal with the hand that they end up being dealt.' Amanda Hobbs Fashion Forward If you want to know the answer to a multifaceted question, put Amanda Hobbs on the case. 'I've researched almost any topic you can think of,' she says, including lithium batteries, ancient Rome, fungal infections, space and epigenetics. Hobbs is a freelancer whose work often shapes the graphics in Scientific American. For this issue, she researched sustainable fashion for graphics by senior graphics editor Jen Christiansen, as part of the feature article by Jessica Hullinger. Today's fashion industry is a complicated landscape (more so than she'd initially thought), and it's challenging to identify viable options. 'Is it really sustainable? Or is it just paying lip service?' Hobbs asks. She hopes the graphics will help people 'get past the greenwashing.' In college Hobbs was torn between biology and history. 'Biology is literally dissecting something to see all the different parts. I'm much more into that figuratively. So I became a history major.' This knowledge helps her research bygone worlds to inform artistic re-creations of scenes from the past, such as Incan mummy rituals or Emperor Hadrian visiting a Roman fort. These reconstructions require a lot of historical detail about ancient peoples' etiquette, fashion, and more. It's 'that sort of everyday lived history,' she says, that she loves digging into the most.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nikon Announces Judging Panel for the 51st Annual Small World Competition
MELVILLE, N.Y., May 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nikon Instruments Inc. today announced the judging panel for the 2025 Nikon Small World photomicrography and Small World in Motion video competitions, which will be held June 4–5 at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. For over five decades, the Nikon Small World competition has been regarded as the premier platform for displaying the intricate beauty of life as seen through the light microscope. As in previous years, the competition will honor the top 20 photography and top 5 video winners, in addition to awarding honorable mentions and images of distinction. Submissions will be evaluated on originality, informational content, technical proficiency, and visual impact. Winners may receive up to $3,000 and international media recognition. "Every year, each member of our judging panel brings a unique perspective that helps curate a collection of images and videos that not only reflects advancements in scientific imaging and research but also sparks curiosity and wonder for a global audience," said Eric Flem, Senior Manager, Communications and CRM at Nikon Instruments. The 2025 judging panel features five top-tier experts in the fields of science and media, each of whom will leverage their diverse expertise in both science and art to evaluate which submissions best align with the competition's criteria: Deboki Chakravarti, PhD is a science writer based out of western Massachusetts who focuses on creating educational science videos and podcasts, including "Journey to the Microcosmos," "Tiny Matters," "Scishow Tangents," and "Crash Course Organic Chemistry." From designing better bike seats to existential crises inspired by amoebas, Chakravarti's work covers a wide range of subjects, all of which are tied together by her fascination with how science interacts with the culture around it. Chakravarti received her PhD in biomedical engineering from Boston University, where she worked on engineering T cells for cancer immunotherapy. Prior to that, she earned her bachelor's degree in bioengineering and English from The California Institute of Technology. Jeff DelViscio is the chief multimedia editor/executive producer at Scientific American. He is the former director of multimedia at STAT, where he oversaw all visual, audio, and interactive journalism. Before that, he spent more than eight years at The New York Times, where he worked on five different desks across the paper. DelViscio holds dual master's degrees from Columbia University in journalism and in earth and environmental sciences. He has worked aboard oceanographic research vessels and tracked money and politics in science from Washington, D.C. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT in 2018–19. DelViscio's work has won numerous awards, including two News and Documentary Emmys. Andrew Moore, PhD is a postdoctoral scientist in the Lippincott-Schwartz Lab at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus who specializes in cell biology with a focus on organelle-cytoskeleton interactions. He completed his graduate training in the Holzbaur Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, where he researched mitochondria quality control and dynamics. Currently, Moore's work centers on understanding how cells organize and position their organelles, particularly exploring the interactions between vimentin intermediate filaments and the endoplasmic reticulum. His research combines advanced light and volume electron microscopy techniques to delve into the complexities of cell structure and function. Moore is no stranger to Nikon Small World; he has placed six photos and six videos in the competitions since 2018 and looks forward to experiencing this year's competition from the other side of the judges' table. Liz Roth-Johnson, PhD is a scientist turned science communicator with more than a decade of experience making complex scientific ideas accessible and compelling to broad audiences. At the California Science Center, Roth-Johnson oversees the development of fun, memorable exhibit experiences that spark curiosity and inspire science learning in all ages and backgrounds. Recent projects include a Nikon Small World exhibit that explores some of the light microscopy tools and techniques scientists use to study life. Prior to her tenure at the California Science Center, Roth-Johnson created popular online food science content, reported science stories for KQED Science, consulted for the Autry Museum of the American West, and designed introductory biology courses for undergraduate students at UCLA. Roth-Johnson earned her PhD in molecular biology from UCLA and received her BA degree from UC Berkeley, where she majored in molecular & cell biology and music. She completed postdoctoral work as a Discipline-Based Education Research Fellow in the UCLA Department of Life Science Core Education. W. Gregory Sawyer, PhD is chief bioengineering officer and chair of the Department of BioEngineering at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. Professor Sawyer has published over 200 journal papers, has over 16,000 citations, holds over 20 patents, and is most proud of his numerous PhD students who are now faculty members and scientists across the globe. He was a member of the original Mars Rover Program (NASA-JPL), a speaker at TED 8, led the first space-tribology experiments on the International Space Station (ISS), developed novel biomaterials for the ocular surface, and is currently leading efforts in Cancer Engineering. The Nikon Small World in Motion video winners will be announced in late September, and the winners of the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition will be released in mid-October, 2025. For additional information, please visit and follow the competition on Facebook, LinkedIn, X (@NikonSmallWorld), Instagram (@nikonsmallworld), and Bluesky (@ About Nikon Small World Photomicrography CompetitionThe Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition is open to anyone with an interest in photography or video through the microscope. Participants may view details and upload digital images and videos directly at For additional information, contact Nikon Small World, Nikon Instruments Inc., 1300 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, NY 11747, USA, or email us at ABOUT NIKON INSTRUMENTS Instruments Inc. is the US microscopy arm of Nikon Healthcare, a world leader in the development and manufacture of optical and digital imaging technology for biomedical applications. For more information, visit or contact us at 1-800-52-NIKON. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Nikon Instruments Inc. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
