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. Planetary Science

    Year in review: Best evidence yet for water on Mars

    New data from the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter supported the presence of salty water on Mars.

  2. Quantum Physics

    Quantum dots get a second chance to shine

    Quantum dots, semiconductor particles that can emit a rainbow of colors, have been put to work observing living cells, with possible benefits for medical diagnosis.

  3. Planetary Science

    The Martian Diaries

    Curiosity has explored Mars for over two and a half years. What if NASA's rover kept a scrapbook?

  4. Ecosystems

    Dam demolition lets the Elwha River run free

    Removing a dam involves more than impressive explosions. Releasing a river like Washington state's Elwha transforms the landscape and restores important pathways for native fish.

  5. Planetary Science

    Year in review: Business booming on Mars

    Mars now has seven robots studying it and together they have given scientists their best view of any planet in the solar system other than Earth.

  6. Paleontology

    3-D scans reveal secrets of extinct creatures

    Paleontologists can dig into fossils without destroying them and see what’s inside using 3-D scanning. What they’re learning helps bring the past to life.

  7. Earth

    Buying time when quakes hit

    On the West Coast, geologists are developing an earthquake warning system that can provide seconds of notice before destructive shaking begins. The system could be ready before the next big quake hits.

  8. Genetics

    Life at the Speed of Light

    Biology has come a long way from the days of mixing things in petri dishes and hoping something interesting happens. In his new book, Venter introduces readers to a future of precise biological engineering.

  9. Earth

    The long and winding Colorado

    The history of the West’s iconic river is written in the dramatic landscapes it has shaped. How to interpret that chronicle has become a contentious issue among geologists.

  10. Astronomy

    Quiet maximum

    By almost any measure, this solar maximum has been pathetic. No more than 67 sunspots have appeared in a month so far; at the last peak, in 2000, that number was above 120.

  11. Space

    Exploring Earth’s alien spaces

    Nathalie Cabrol, a planetary geologist and astrobiologist at the SETI Institute’s Carl Sagan Center and NASA’s Ames Research Center, both in Mountain View, Calif., hunts for alien life.

  12. Math

    Thinking In Numbers

    On Life, Love, Meaning, and Math by Daniel Tammet.