Contributor

B. David Zarley

Senior Staff Writer

Contact

[email protected]

B. David Zarley is a senior staff writer for Freethink, where he covers health and medicine, including infectious disease, psychedelic research, mental health, and the brain. A graduate of SUNY Fredonia, his work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Verge, Jezebel, Frieze, Sports Illustrated, VICE, Paste Magazine, and numerous other publications. He lives in Chicago and can be reached via Signal by request. Send him story ideas!

Medicine

Probiotic gut bacteria can produce a vital Parkinson’s drug

L-DOPA is a miraculous Parkinson’s drug with terrible side effects. Researchers have created drug-producing bacteria that may help.

B. David Zarley

Business

The age of the autonomous forklift is here

Facing a skilled labor crunch, companies are turning to autonomous forklift fleets for a safer, faster, more efficient work environment.

B. David Zarley

Coronavirus

Strange treatment may restore sense of smell after COVID

Philadelphia doctors are treating COVID patient’s loss of smell with plasma-soaked sponges. But whether it is working or not still needs to be sniffed out.

B. David Zarley

Democracy

The future of classified intelligence may be sharing it

Faced with an enemy adept at information warfare, the US and allies are turning to a new, unusual way to use classified intelligence.

B. David Zarley

Food

The West Coast wants to tap into the maple sugar market

Over 75% of the world’s maple syrup production is in Quebec. But with climate change threatening their seasons, West Coast producers are looking to tap in.

B. David Zarley

Clean Energy

World’s first fully-recyclable wind turbine blade prototype debuts

Wind turbine blades are notoriously difficult to recycle, but researchers and industry players hope a new material design may change that.

B. David Zarley

Surgery

Rare double lung transplant saves cancer patient’s life

A Chicago lung cancer patient’s successful double lung transplant is a ray of hope for others with the deadly disease.

B. David Zarley

Neuroscience

In a hole in Earth’s magnetic field, neuroscientists are peering into the human brain

By using quantum physics to measure magnetic fields, researchers are pushing closer to measuring the brain in ways we couldn't before.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

Cancer is addicted to iron. It could be a fatal weakness.

By homing in on the high levels of iron in certain cancer cells, researchers have created a more targeted anticancer drug.

B. David Zarley

Paleontology

Fossil of oldest octopus and vampire squid relative may reveal 10-armed past

A newly described fossil may be the oldest relative yet found of octopuses and vampire squids — although if it is a new species at all is disputed.

B. David Zarley