Sarah Lewin Frasier: Science Explainer

As a science writer and editor based in NYC, I make sense of the world for fun and profit.

Assistant News Editor at Scientific American; formerly Associate Editor at Space.com. My work has been featured by IEEE Spectrum, Quanta Magazine, The Scientist, Science Friday, WGBH's Inside NOVA, and Johns Hopkins Medicine Magazine.

I've put together interactive data visualizations, talked news on live TV, fact-checked, copyedited, programmed in Python, covered rocket launches, and led an improv comedy group. Super shiny resume here, and my Twitter feed is here.

Email me: saraholewin (at) gmail or sarah.frasier (at) sciam.

Featured

Technology

Math+Computers

Space

Med Science

Environment

All

Multimedia/DIY

I sometimes do things!

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Space.com

In 1925, Observers Lined Manhattan

They were there to measure a total solar eclipse.

Space.com

Making Stuff in Space

Off-Earth manufacturing is just getting started.

Space.com

Massive Space Structures + Quantum Mech

The two have a surprising connection.

Space.com

Things I Used to Watch the Total Solar Eclipse

Very scientifically rated.

Space.com

Alien Planets Reveal Clues to Stars' Insides

A new analysis uses alien worlds' orbital treks to peek inside their stars.

Space.com

Dear E.T.

The math on Voyager's Golden Record tells a story.

Space.com

Alien Ice Formed in a (Laser) Flash

Researchers created a superdense version of ice found deep within icy moons and colliding comets.

Space.com

Dark Matter Still a Mystery

The incredibly sensitive LUX dark-matter detector, buried under a mile of rock, has come up empty once again.

Space.com

What Would It Be Like to Play 'Pokemon Go' in Space?

Space.com had just one big question about the pastime.

Space.com

New Equation Tallies Odds of Life Beginning

A new equation lays out exactly how overwhelming the odds of life's emergence.

Yahoo News (via Space.com)

Astronauts Rescue Space Station Railcar

Two space station crewmembers took a surprise spacewalk today.

Space.com

Does 'The Martian' Movie Do the Book Justice? Yes. Yes, It Does.

We explore how the space survival flick measures up.

Space.com

Ice Lab Plays it Cool for Pluto Flyby

An Arizona ice lab coaxes crystal-clear ice from mixes of methane, nitrogen and even carbon monoxide.

Space.com

Going Interstellar: Q&A With 'Aurora' Author Kim Stanley Robinson

On space travel and humanity's destiny.

Scientific American

Steering Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance

A "time machine" algorithm, backed by experimental data, reveals how to cycle drugs to reverse resistance.

Scientific American

CSI: Aliens

Astronomers prep to detect cryptic exoplanet biosignals.

Quanta Magazine

A Grand Theory of Wrinkles

Collaboration between engineers and mathematicians has revealed universal rules for how wrinkles form.

IEEE Spectrum

Quick Fix: DIY Water Leak Detector

Pair the Nanospark with an iPhone to create a smart microcontroller.

Scientific American

30 Heat-Tolerant Strains of Bean Identified

Beans that beat the heat do more than protect food security; they could even expand into new territories.

Scientific American (infographic)

A Genetic Guide to Birds

In the most thorough genomic investigation to date, some birds perch on new branches. Art: Jen Christiansen

Scientific American

Unboiled Egg Untangles Knotty Protein Prob

A new machine could help biotech with a faster, cheaper way to purify proteins.

Science Friday

Peek Inside a Mechanical Calculator

Weighing in at 40 pounds, this machine was among the most powerful - and the most difficult.

Science Friday

Gift of the Mummy

A patient more than 3,000 years old takes a turn through a CT scanner.

IEEE Spectrum

Microwave Stethoscope Lets Physicians Peer Into the Lungs

A stick-on sensor can measure vital signs and lung fluid.

IEEE Spectrum

LEDs Bring New Light to Car-to-Car Comm

Signals transmitted by LEDs will help vehicles cooperate and avoid crashes.

IEEE Spectrum

Your Candy Wrappers are Listening

Visual microphone reconstructs nearby sound from silent videos of ordinary objects.

Experimental

What does my positive test result mean?

Here's what the answer says, statistically speaking. (An interactive display.)

IEEE Spectrum

How to Catch a Memory Copycat

In the competitive world of memory chip manufacture, how do you find a fraud?

Scienceline

The Ultimate Environmental Challenge

If you want people to conserve, you're going to have to convince...me.

IEEE Spectrum

Google's Cardboard Virtual Reality Kit

Google debuts minimalist virtual reality and lets you build your own from a pizza box.

Scienceline (infographic)

Planet-hunter's guide to the galaxy

IEEE Spectrum

Holographic Displays Come to Smartphones

Light-field displays for mobile devices might be only a year away.

Scienceline

Thinking machines?

A Turing test doesn't measure a computer's intelligence, but it does say something about its usefulness.

Scienceline

Written in the clouds

Cargo ships and weather balloons - no one said MAGIC was easy.

The Scientist

A face to remember

MIT group's 'feature tuning' algorithm can make your profile more (or less) memorable.

Scientific American (infographic)

A Genetic Guide to Birds

In the most thorough genomic investigation to date, some birds perch on new branches. Art: Jen Christiansen

Scienceline (video)

Close up: Fly's Eye Photography

Artist M. Henry Jones turns lenses and lighting into 3D portraits that really pop. With Joshua A. Krisch

Space.com

Going Interstellar: Q&A With 'Aurora' Author Kim Stanley Robinson

On space travel and humanity's destiny.

Scienceline

Science and art collide in space images

What are we really seeing when we look at photos of planets and stars?

Scienceline

Florida's extraordinary mangroves

'Walking trees' guard the shores of Florida and thrive in the salty water.

Vector (Boston Children's Hospital)

From discovery to trial

A drug that may correct 'lazy eye.'

Vector (Boston Children's Hospital)

A secret in the plasma

Strengthening newborns' immune systems.

Vector (Boston Children's Hospital)

A mutation and a mystery

In mice, weight gain without a change in energy use.

Inside NOVA

Encryptions Past, Present, and Future

Four-part series on cryptography.
(WGBH's NOVA blog lost to time and space; here's a PDF)

Inside NOVA

Adventures in swarm robotics

Harvard's thousand-robot army is almost complete.
(WGBH's NOVA blog lost to time and space; here's a PDF)

Brown Daily Herald

Brain patterns of passion revealed

Love may be in the air, but it is also in your brainwaves.

Johns Hopkins Medicine Magazine

Baby dino yields big clues

Scientists look to antiquity for insight into modern human anatomy.

All Your Screens

By the way...

I also do live media appearances to discuss the latest science news.

All hail the bird captain!

The bird captain knows all.

Hand-coded in HTML/CSS and JavaScript by Sarah Lewin Frasier. Hosted on GitHub. The layout of different sized blocks is from the Masonry library, by the way.