Our Authors

Niraj Lal is currently studying as a Gates Scholar with Professor Jeremy Baumberg in the NanoPhotonics Centre at the Cavendish Labs, University of Cambridge. His PhD topic is “Nanovoid Plasmonic-Enhanced Photovoltaics”; using really, really small things to make solar cells more efficient, and he’s absolutely loving it.

Niraj Lal is currently studying as a Gates Scholar with Professor Jeremy Baumberg in the NanoPhotonics Centre at the Cavendish Labs, University of Cambridge. His PhD topic is “Nanovoid Plasmonic-Enhanced Photovoltaics”; using really, really small things to make solar cells more efficient, and he’s absolutely loving it.

Anna Khot has a degree in Plant Science from the University of Nottingham and a PhD in insecticide resistance and biochemistry from Imperial College London and Rothamsted Research. She is currently studying for a Masters in Science Communication at UWE.

Alan Hirshfeld is Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, USA, and author of Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos (Holt, 2002), The Electric Life of Michael Faraday (Walker, 2006), and most recently Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes (Walker, 2010).

Paul is a doctor, writer and producer. He has developed and researched, produced documentary television for Discovery, Channel 4 (UK) & Television New Zealand. His latest film, Donated to Science, was a Realscreen Pick of MIP and was nominated for a Qantas Award for best popular documentary. Now he's working on a film about pig cell transplants for diabetes and a sequel to Donated to Science following the same students through their clinical training. In his spare time he collects medical quackery and practices medicine in a small rural hospital in New Zealand's South Island.

Smitha Mundasad is a medical doctor who has been itching to write about science since she donned her first pair of over-sized safety goggles many years ago. She has a BSc in International Health and a MA in Science Journalism. She is also a dedicated grower and eater of chilli plants.

Jeannie Moulton completed her PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010 with a focus on signal and array processing and imaging. She enjoys writing on science, particularly astronomy, mathematics and topics related to the environment, in a way that non-scientists will enjoy. Her free time is divided between freelance writing, ballet and kitties!

Andrew is a research scientist who is currently employed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. His research involves the study of protein-protein binding by way of using small isotopically labelled linker molecules. These linker molecules bind between residues that are within range of each other and then the cross-linked protein complex is digested and analysed by mass spectrometry.

David Nabhan is an advocate who has been calling for the creation of an earthquake warning system for the US West Coast for the last two decades. He proposes an informal scheme whereby newspapers might publish higher probability advisories for elevated risks—and has taken that controversial debate public in many media forums with the USGS, Cal Tech, and Southern California Earthquake Center. Nabhan is a recently retired public school teacher (South Central Los Angeles) and the former LAUSD Earthquake Preparedness Coordinator for his school site. He is the author of Predicting the Next Great Quake (1996) and Forecasting the Catastrophe (2010).

After an undergraduate degree in Edinburgh I am now pursuing a PhD in plant development and evolution at the University of Cambridge. After all, what could be more exciting than finding out how weird green things took over the planet?

Natalie Roberts is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge Earth Sciences Department. She studies past ocean circulation in the north Atlantic, and its relationship to past climate change.

Richard Lomax was born in South Africa in 1953. He runs his own business marketing LED lamps. Richard is a PADI advanced diver who loves diving with sharks, dolphins and whales. He writes and talks on the radio about life under the sea.