Rachel Ehrenberg

Previously the interdisciplinary sciences and chemistry reporter and author of the Culture Beaker blog, Rachel has written about new explosives, the perils and promise of 3-D printing and how to detect corruption in networks of email correspondence. Rachel was a 2013-2014 Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT. She has degrees in botany and political science from the University of Vermont and a master’s in evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan. She graduated from the science writing program at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

All Stories by Rachel Ehrenberg

  1. Health & Medicine

    Drinking studies muddied the waters around the safety of alcohol use

    Studies claiming that alcohol in even small amounts is dangerous weren’t designed to address risks of moderate drinking.

  2. Life

    Emily Balskus uses chemical logic to study the microbiome

    Using chemistry to peer at the microbial world, Emily Balskus is revealing how microbes influence human health.

  3. Plants

    Smart plants can teach us a thing or two

    ‘The Revolutionary Genius of Plants’ challenges the brain-centered view of intelligence.

  4. Health & Medicine

    How to help your toddler be helpful (with caveats)

    Even very young toddlers like to help, a social skill that’s linked to later success in school and life.

  5. Life

    Your blood type might make you more likely to get traveler’s diarrhea

    People with type A blood are more likely to develop severe diarrhea from E. coli infections.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Is it an invasion of your kids’ privacy to post pictures of them on social media?

    Growing up in an online world doesn’t mean that kids don’t care about privacy. Parents should keep this in mind when posting pictures of their kids to social media.

  7. Science & Society

    An antiscience political climate is driving scientists to run for office

    Hoping to inject evidence-based science into policy, more scientists are putting their name on the ballot.

  8. Environment

    Microplastics may enter freshwater and soil via compost

    Compost is pinpointed as a source of plastic pollution, but environmental fate and effects unknown.

  9. Neuroscience

    Brain waves of concertgoers sync up at shows

    During a live musical performance, audience members’ brain waves get in sync.

  10. Neuroscience

    Parents’ presence promotes a child’s pluck

    Parents’ presence or absence during a learning exercise determines whether their child is fearful later, or willing to explore.

  11. Neuroscience

    When tickling the brain to stimulate memory, location matters

    Conflicting results regarding the benefits of brain stimulation may be explained by the precise location of electrodes.

  12. Science & Society

    What we do and don’t know about how to prevent gun violence

    Background checks work to prevent gun violence; concealed carry and stand-your-ground laws don’t. But lack of data makes it hard to make other links.