Alexandra Witze

Contributing Correspondent

Alexandra Witze is a contributing correspondent based in Boulder, Colorado. Among other exotic locales, her reporting has taken her to Maya ruins in the jungles of Guatemala, among rotting corpses at the University of Tennessee's legendary "Body Farm," and to a floating sea-ice camp at the North Pole. She has a bachelor's degree in geology from MIT and a graduate certification in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Among her honors are the Science-in-Society award from the National Association of Science Writers (shared with Tom Siegfried), and the American Geophysical Union's award for feature journalism. She coauthored the book Island on Fire, about the 18th-century eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki.

All Stories by Alexandra Witze

  1. Animals

    Flying insects tell tales of long-distance migrations

    Researchers are asking big questions about animal movements and pest control by tracking tiny insects in flight.

  2. Earth

    What the Pliocene epoch can teach us about future warming on Earth

    By simulating the changes that occurred during the warm Pliocene epoch, researchers are trying to predict Earth’s future hundreds of years from now.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Luhan Yang strives to make pig organs safe for human transplants

    A bold approach to genome editing by biologist Luhan Yang could alleviate the shortage of organs and ease human suffering.

  4. Earth

    How earthquake scientists eavesdrop on North Korea’s nuclear blasts

    Researchers monitor the power and location of underground nuclear weapons testing by North Korea.

  5. Climate

    Lakes worldwide feel the heat from climate change

    Lakes worldwide are warming with consequences for every part of the food web, from algae, to walleye, to freshwater seals.

  6. Earth

    Evidence falls into place for once and future supercontinents

    Shifting landmasses have repeatedly reshaped Earth’s surface. Researchers piecing together the past are now picturing a new supercontinent, due in 250 million years.

  7. Earth

    Year in review: Ozone hole officially on the mend

    Research this year confirms that the Antarctic ozone hole is healing — an international success attributed to cooperation and new technologies.

  8. Physics

    Tenio Popmintchev fits X-ray laser on a tabletop

    Laser physicist Tenio Popmintchev has created a Swiss-army-knife tool made of light.

  9. Earth

    Where the young hot Earth cached its gold

    A simulation of the infant Earth provides a new view of how the iron-loving precious metals ended up buried deep in the planet’s core.

  10. Earth

    Iron-loving elements tell stories of Earth’s history

    By studying geochemical footprints of rare elements, researchers get a glimpse of the planet’s evolution.

  11. Physics

    The science of avalanches

    High-tech instruments are helping researchers study how temperature can change the character — and danger — of an avalanche

  12. Planetary Science

    Year in review: Global ocean spans Enceladus

    NASA's Cassini spacecraft is offering the best evidence yet that Saturn's moon Enceladus could be a great place to search for extraterrestrial life.