Contributor

B. David Zarley

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B. David Zarley is freelance journalist covering health and medicine, including infectious disease, psychedelic research, mental health, and the brain. A graduate of SUNY Fredonia, his work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Verge, Jezebel, Frieze, Sports Illustrated, VICE, Paste Magazine, and numerous other publications.

Animals

Scientists observe cells reacting to a magnetic field for the first time

Scientists aren’t sure how animals sense magnetic fields — magnetoreception. New observations of living cells reacting to magnetic fields may hold a clue.

B. David Zarley

Clean Energy

Transparent solar windows could be coming soon

Solar power is abundant, but the dark panels pose a design problem. A new generation of transparent solar panels could make house-powering windows and phone screens a reality.

B. David Zarley

Climate Crisis

New findings could help wine survive climate change

Climate change is altering wine making as we know it. Researchers at UC Davis have identified what makes some grapes more resistant to water stress.

B. David Zarley

Animals

Scientists put bees in little reflective “vests” for bee tracking

Bee tracking is difficult and expensive, and smaller bees are left out. Lightweight, inexpensive tags may be a solution.

B. David Zarley

Physicists are starting to harness the power of deepfakes

Generative adversarial networks are the scary AI producing deepfakes. But they have other uses too, and physicists are starting to harness their power.

B. David Zarley

Ecosystems

Scientists are using old spy satellite photos to study ecological change

Researchers are using new image processing techniques designed for drones to study declassified, Cold War spy satellite photos for ecological change.

B. David Zarley

Just how are deepfakes made, anyway?

Capable of creating incredibly realistic false data — most infamously of famous people — deepfakes are a powerful tool.

B. David Zarley

3D Printing

This may be the 3D-printed submarine of the future

Using unique construction techniques, this 3D-printed submarine may set the pace for the building of large AUVs to come.

B. David Zarley

Animals

We need a better way to track polar bears. This father and son found a way.

A father-son duo has teamed up to develop four different temporary tracking devices being tested by polar bears in the far North.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

These are the medical breakthroughs that inspired us in 2020

2020 has put medicine to the forefront like never before. Freethink’s B. David Zarley looked back on the year and chose three medical developments that inspired him.

B. David Zarley