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!

Archaeology

Will Hunt finds humanity underground

In Will Hunt’s book Underground, the journalist and "urban explorer" details his expeditions through caves, mines, tunnels, catacombs, and sewer systems around the world and the depths of the information he's found.

B. David Zarley

Event 201 works with private sector for global pandemic preparedness.

Public Health

The next pandemic is out there. Is the private sector ready?

Johns Hopkins' simulated, international catastrophe is helping business, government, and public health leaders improve global pandemic preparedness.

B. David Zarley

An octocopter drone can be equiped with tools such as a nail gun.

Drones

This nail gun wielding drone looks terrifying, but could save lives

According to OSHA, one in five workplace deaths in 2017 were in construction. Can nail gun drones help save lives?

B. David Zarley

Public Health

Can mosquito-repellent clothes stop the deadliest animal on Earth?

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are War, Death, Famine, and Pestilence — what Revelation doesn't tell you is...

B. David Zarley

Drugs

Take a trip to Johns Hopkins' new psychedelic research center

Johns Hopkins is throwing its considerable clout behind the fast-growing field of psychedelic research, pouring $17 million into a research center to study the hallucinogenic drugs.

B. David Zarley

Virology

Could another measles outbreak open up Pandora’s Box?

The global resurgence of measles has sparked renewed scientific interest in this old foe. If the theory — which is contested — turns out to be true, a measles infection could be less an isolated bout of illness and more a Pandora’s box.

B. David Zarley

Activism

This nonprofit gives bikes and people new life

Working Bikes has spent nearly two decades rescuing bicycles from the waste cycle to give people purpose, access to jobs, and independence.

B. David Zarley

Building Community

This social enterprise is cleaning up Chicago one street at a time

This nonprofit is not only polishing the streets of Chicago, but providing a "clean slate" for its interns. Those with a criminal background, dealing with addiction recovery, or domestic violence, are welcome to take part in job training and counseling.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

mRNA vaccines could change everything in the fight against disease

Traditional methods of vaccination have come up against difficult challenges. They can also be expensive and time-consuming to produce. New RNA vaccines are faster, cheaper, and safer, and show great potential to meet evolving threats.

B. David Zarley

Transportation

Getting aerial ridesharing off the ground

It’s been the ultimate futuristic dream for decades: flying cars! But now, the future finally has a deadline. At least to start, it will land in the form of a small air taxi operated by Uber, not something you’ll park in your garage.

B. David Zarley