My personal Substack writing about the future of technology, science, business, investment, policy, ethics, ecology, and more from a bestselling author and an award-winning reporter and commentator covering life sciences, AI, politics, and more.
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Geneticist Craig Venter died on April 29. Musings on the man, the role of personality in science, and his relentless assault on scientific dogma | Plus excerpts about him from my 2005 book Masterminds
“I’m so happy” said my 93 year-old dad just before he passed on Thanksgiving Day last year. What did he mean, and why does happiness for so many seem elusive?
John and Jane are key subjects in my new investigative article for MIT Tech Review and Aventine. The column offers more details and musings on recent dramatic breakthroughs in immunomics
He's changed minds with bestselling books on psychedelics and on botany and desire. Now he’s tackling consciousness | Also from from my archives: Ketamine backlash; Silicon Valley and Trump
He helped eradicate smallpox, but his pandemic warnings were ignored. Now he's worried about an emerging contagion of anti-science. Also from my archives: "Coronavirus Cassandras" (Vanity Fair), more
A New Year’s Chat with Futura, Age 14 Days—and Her Parents, Biotech Entrepreneur Riccardo Sabatini and Artist Olivia Ives-Flores | And from my archives"Teddy Bear Bot" Talking to Robots (Dutton 2019)
The future of AI, space, women’s health, longevity, wisdom, and climate change: voices from the XPRIZE summit in Malibu » Also from my Archives: “Thomas Jefferson Would Work for GoogleX"
Politics and the Heart. My essay on how modern life—including politics—impacts our hearts, literally and metaphorically | Plus: “Growing Heart Cells Just for Me" | Video: “Playing Mambo with My Heart"
Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan tapped Stanford's Steve Quake to help eradicate disease by 2100. How's it going? Also: The Future of Health (report); Zuckerberg at age 22: a 2006 interview (podcast)
An essay and Q&A; also my Vanity Fair essay on how climate change impacts the Ocean microbiome; diving with my son in Belize for Outside; and my UN talk on radical stewardship
