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!

Robotics

Trash-talking robots get under our skin

Can robots control us? Probably not, but they can influence our actions, as this recent study on human-robot interaction by Carnegie Mellon shows.

B. David Zarley

Fertility

Breaking the taboo of male infertility

Male infertility contributes to up to half of infertility cases. Why is it so hard to talk about?

B. David Zarley

Surveillance

New tech can see through walls and ID people by the way they walk

A California-based lab is using gait recognition and radio frequency to create a surveillance system that can see behind walls.

B. David Zarley

Disaster Response

This big wave surfer is changing how we fight wildfires

Fire retardant spray contains toxins that are harmful to the environment and first responders, but Jeff Denholm is looking to change that.

B. David Zarley

Addiction

Addict-turned-neuroscientist on addiction and the brain

In our interview with neuroscientist Judith Grisel, she discusses the state of research on addiction and the brain, as well as society’s view of addicts.

B. David Zarley

Chefs work together to end child hunger.

Food

Chefs fight child hunger with No Kid Hungry

A group of culinary professionals in Chicago is volunteering their talents to end child hunger in the US, and some are going all the way to Capitol Hill.

B. David Zarley

Schematics showing the flow of electricity in two common static electricity experiences. Illustration by Teresa Stanton.

Engineering

What is static electricity? We may finally have an answer.

This model, created by doctoral students, provides a convincing explanation for a mystery that is thousands of years old - the cause of static electricity.

B. David Zarley

Disaster Response

NASA wants YOU to help track landslides

NASA is enlisting citizen scientists to collect important data on recent landslides, in an effort to improve prediction models and assist in disaster prevention.

B. David Zarley

Scientists are using AI to improve breast cancer screening

Computer scientists at MIT created a new algorithm for breast cancer screening to predict whether a patient will develop the disease in the next 5 years.

B. David Zarley

Agriculture

A “death-ray” for weeds could replace chemical weed killers

Dr. Graham Brodie of the University of Melbourne is working on a device for zapping stubborn weeds with microwaves.

B. David Zarley