AEON essays, 2014-present, just a partial list of acquisitions, more to come



The worldwide cage by Nicholas Carr, August 2016. Technology promised to set us free. Instead it has trained us to withdraw from the world into distraction and dependency
Aging out of drugs by Stacey McKenna, August 2016. Most addicts just stop using in time, without needing costly treatment. Why do some people walk away while others cannot?
My spotless mind by Lauren Gravitz, August 2016. Imagine purging life's disturbing events. If you could alter or mute your worst memories would you still remain yourself?
Spiritual emergency by James Carpenter, August 2016. Why voices, visions and hallucinations should not be treated with drugs
Truth, lies and stereotypes by Lee Jussim, August 2016. Social scientists dismiss them, but rather than being universally inaccurate, stereotypes are often grounded in reality

Right on track by Margarita Gokun Silver, July 2016. If there is a greater thrill of travelling than the discovery of unfamiliar places, for me it’s getting there by train
The risk of positive thinking by Gabriele Oettingen, July 2016. Fantasies about the future have a troubling effect on achieving actual goals.
Falling for sleep by Rubin Naiman, July 2016. Fantasies about the future have a troubling effect on achieving actual goals
The inheritance of crime by Douglas Starr, July 2016. Eugenic ideas about criminal genes have been repudiated for decades, but a new biological approach to crime is emerging

Don't beat yourself up by Mark Leary, June 2016. Learning to be kind to yourself when you (inevitably) make mistakes could have a remarkable effect on your happiness
How to get smarter by Jeffrey Zacks, June 2016
Disgust made us human by Kathleen McAulliffe, June 2016. Our ancestors reacted to parasites with overwhelming revulsion, wiring the brain for morals, manners, politics and laws
The outsiders by Avan Judd Stallard, June 2016. Has evolution programmed us to shun and turn our backs on refugees, even when they might die without our help?

The empty brain by Robert Epstein, May 2016. Why the punishment and humiliation of reality TV contestants provides such a satisfying and deep pleasure
Bring them back by Joseph Fins, May 2016. Untold thousands of patients misdiagnosed as vegetative are actually aware. Theirs is the civil rights fight of our times
The predictive power of dreams by Sue Llewellyn, May 2016
Silicon Phoenix by Kat McGowan, May 2016. A gifted child, an adventure, a dark time, and then ... a pivot? How Silicon Valley rewrote America's redemption narrative

The pleasure of their pain by Batya Ungar-Sargon, April 2016. Why the punishment and humiliation of reality TV contestants provides such a satisfying and deep pleasure
The ADHD confessions by Richard Orange, April 2016. Rousseau's non-linear style of thought, restless spirit and chaotic mood swings also made him one of history's greats
The ages of distraction by Frank Furedi, April 2016. Busy, distracted, inattentive? Everybody has been since at least 1710 and here are the philosophers to prove it

Is everybody a racist? by Princess Ojiaku, March 2016. The studies just keep coming. Unconscious racism is pervasive. It starts early. And it creates a deadly empathy gap
The cruelty of kindness by Sabine Heinlein, March 2016. No kill animal shelters have unleashed an epidemic of suffering. Is a life of misery any better than a quick death?
Half-Earth by EO Wilson, March 2016. Half of the Earth's surface and seas must be dedicated to the conservation of nature, or humanity will have no future
Smoking with friends by Mark Teich, March 2016. Life can be a lonely journey. But at your local cigar bar, all the guys know your name, or give you a new one altogether

The new mind control by Robert Epstein, February 2016. The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence that can flip elections and manipulate everything we say, think and do
The migrant's tale by Sarah Menkedick, February 2016. Illegal Mexican migrants working the laundromats of LA are on the adventure of a lifetime
Neurothriller by Patricia Pisters, February 2016. It's not just your imagination. Horror films are much more scary than they were in the past. Here's how they do it
Vaccines and values by Maggie Koerth-Baker, February 2016. Parents who reject vaccination are making a rational choice. They prefer to put their children above the public good

Work imitates life by Benjamin Nadoff-Haffrey, January 2016. The utopian workplace is here, complete with roof gardens, therapists and time to nap. Can the employee ever escape?
In praise of defiance by Carrie Arnold, January 2016. Labelling someone crazy and difficult is a way to resist justice and change, and psychiatrists are complicit
Spoken in scent by Elizabeth Preston, January 2016. A hidden sense of smell might account for the mysterious sixth sense and a universe of subtle knowledge about the world
Riding the wind by Karen Emslie, January 2016. Parents who reject vaccination are making a rational choice. They prefer to put their children above the public good

ISIS is a revolution by Scott Atran, December 2015. All world-altering revolutions are born in danger and death, brotherhood and joy. How can this one be stopped?
The libido crash by Katherine Rowland, December 2015. Female sex drive has plummeted in our stressed-out world, but can we fix an epidemic of lost desire with drugs?

The interrogator's soul by Shane O Mara, November 2015. An ordinary person becomes a torturer with surprising ease. The hard part comes when it's time to be human again
Smoke gets in your eyes by Lee Vinsel, October 2015. Scientific research says it is safer to drive high than straight, right? Wrong. Here are the phantom studies to (un)prove it
The company you keep by Shruti Ravindran, September 2015. Hallucinated voices can be helpful life guides, muses of creativity, and powerful agents for healing the fractured self

The end of walking by Antonia Malchik, August 2015. In Orwellian fashion, Americans have been stripped of the right to walk, challenging their humanity, freedom and health

The end of walking by Antonia Malchik, August 2015. In Orwellian fashion, Americans have been stripped of the right to walk, challenging their humanity, freedom and health
Was I raped? by Tove Danovich, August 2015. Brutal assaults by strangers are unambiguous. But what should a woman do when she is the victim of an almost rape?

Undercover atheists by Batya Ungar-Sargon, February 2015. Seduced by science and rationalism, yet tied to their families and communities, Hasidic atheists opt for a double life
Poor Teeth by Sarah Smarsh, October 2014. If you have a mouthful of teeth shaped by a childhood in poverty, don't go knocking on the door of American privilege
Stoop stories by Dee Watkins, June 2014. My black friends call it Murderland. My white friends call it Charm City, a town of trendy cafes. I just call it home
The camping cure by Jill Neimark, January 2014. Living outside changes you. When environmental illness left me too sick to stay in my high-rise, I turned to nature to heal
Into the deep MM Owen, July 2015. Just when you crave one more sensual hit, the void of the float tank stops time, strips ego and unleashes the mind
You can do it, baby! by Leslie Garrett, July 2015. Our culture is rich with esteem-boosting platitudes for young dreamers, but the assurances are dishonest and dangerous
Childhood, disrupted by Donna Jackson Nakazawa, July 2015. Adversity in childhood can create long-lasting scars, damaging our cells and our DNA, and making us sick as adults
Would telepathy help? by Kat McGowan, March 2015. Will the next generation of telepathy machines make us closer, or are there unforeseen dangers in the melding of minds?




DISCOVER MAGAZINE, 2007-2013
2013
Interbreeding with Neanderthals by Carl Zimmer, March
Maverick Joe Davis, Space Artist by Steve Nadis, April
Crop Wars by Andrew Curry, April
Dark Universe by Zeeya Merali, May
Grandma's Experience Leaves a Mark on Our Genes by Dan Hurley, May
The World's Sharks Have Gone Missing, June
The Mind in the Machine, June
Mushroom Manifesto by Ken Miller, July/August
The Book of Life by Jeremy Smith, July/August
Doorway to a Cure, September
Before the Big Bang, September
Carla Shatz Profile by Kenneth Miller, October
Allergic to Life by Jill Neimark, November Obsessed by Steve Volk, November
The Confounding Debate Over Lyme in the South, December

June 2012
Oceans Issue: Edited or top-edited bulk of issue, acquired most of the feature well and played a large role in overall packaging.















October 2012
2062: End of Youth and the Future of Population: Acquired the feature well and edited or top-edited bulk of issue. Lead revamp of front-of-book and conceived and acquired center section, Future World Almanac 2062. The issue, linked here in its entirety, is notable for the overall packaging.


March 2012
Acquired and edited the cover story, Gravity Off the Grid by Zeeya Merali, about a freelance physicist who devoted his life to upending Einstein.

Also in this issue:
Attack of the Flying Carp by Jeff Wheelwright
The Paranormal Psychologist by Yudhijit Bhattacharje


And in April 2012:
Where Memory Lives by Dan Hurley

I conceived, aquired, and edited two features each issue on relationships, lifestyles, and trends in culture and health. Stories delved into emotional affairs, first loves, parenting, the meaning of friendship, personality, the mind-body connection, intimate sex, self-delusion, pursuing dreams and goals, and the true health implications of optimism, among other topics

As Executive Editor, I conceived of ideas for the entire magazine and saw them through every stage of production, from assigning and writing to editing, layout, and fact-check. Oversaw staff, including senior and assistant editors as well as interns. Magazine covered lifestyle and health from stem-to-stern for breast cancer patients and survivors. Stories included such topics as the healing power of hope, life without estrogen, how to find a clinical trial, rediscovering sex, and the controversy over mammograms. Circulation 200,000.

OMNI and OMNI INTERNET, 1981-1998.

• Converted the print magazine into a web-only venue, Omni Internet, one of the largest and most popular content destinations of the day. At Omni Internet, my goal was to reinvent magazine journalism for cyberspace --to create a living, web-based journalism of interactive, real-time content and communities.The launch of Omni Internet was covered in Media Week in 1996. The post-mortem appeared on Newsweek International's web site in 1998.
• Served as the magazine's lead feature acquisitions editor. In this capacity, I conceived, acquired, and edited (often rewrote without byline) many of the cover stories that drove newstand sales, and for which the magazine was best known.
• Served as environmental and Earth column editor for more than a decade.
• Edited several entire issues of the print version of Omni. My favorite such project was the October 1991 issue on the future of evolution, inspired by my science writing fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA:
  
  

  INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Omnibus and Table of Contents Feature: Natural Direction Skull & Bones by Jean M. Auel Secret Life of the Neanderthal Q&A: Chris Langton on Artificial Life Life According to Gaia Planit: An Evolutionary Board Game The Whole Evolution Almanac Fiction by Robert Silverberg Missing Link Cast in Stone: Pictorial The Crater that Killed the Dinosaurs

  
  
• Nurtured talented writers, some of them coming my way with virtually no experience but clear potential to be wonderful (with a bit of training and help). I often scoured the slush pile for these diamonds in the rough, starting them out with small "Continuum" articles of 300 words and moving them up slowly to columns and features as they aquired the reportorial and magazine writing crafts. Many of my "finds" are successful magazine journalists today.
• Edited the monthly Continuum section, 8-16 pages of science news that comprised the best-read part of the magazine under my stewardship.
• Served as anomalies editor, lending a skeptical and hard-boiled approach to all such articles that I acquired and saw through the editorial process. From debunking "China's armpit psychics" to finding the "missing nurses of Roswell," I made sure that, on my watch, Omni subscribed to the credo: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary levels of evidence."
  
  

From 1989-2002, I edited between two and four special sections a year for Newsweek and Newsweek International. I conceived of story ideas, assigned them to writers, edited, and saw through all stages of production. Sections were between 16 and 64 pages in length:

• A selection of the issues I coordinated.
  
• Fall 2002 Health and Fitness, available online
  
• Winter 2002 Health and Fitness, available online