Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram

The Internet
I'm the chief digital writer for the Columbia Journalism Review
Mar
30

Navigating the ethics of ancient human DNA research

The 2022 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine has brought fresh attention to paleogenomics, the sequencing of DNA of ancient
5 min read
Mar
29

Next up for CRISPR: Gene editing for the masses?

In the early days, CRISPR gene-editing technology was used to simply make cuts in DNA. Today, it’s being tested
5 min read
Mar
28
What happens when a philosopher starts taking drugs

What happens when a philosopher starts taking drugs

Justin Smith writes: "At a cultural moment when psychedelics are getting a second wind, and even someone as upstanding as
5 min read
Mar
27
This inventor made two of history’s biggest mistakes

This inventor made two of history’s biggest mistakes

In the fall of 1940, Thomas Midgley contracted polio, and the dashing, charismatic inventor soon found himself in a wheelchair,
5 min read
Mar
24
In search of stolen gods

In search of stolen gods

In the town of Bungamati, Nepal, above an ancient spring, stand two stone shrines and a temple. One of those
4 min read
Mar
23
My mother the troll, and the sad ending to her life

My mother the troll, and the sad ending to her life

Brenda Leyland was a stylish, well-spoken and rather private woman who lived in a picturesque village in Leicestershire. Her son
4 min read
Mar
22
The little-known origin story of the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics

The little-known origin story of the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics

In November 1949, Chien-Shiung Wu and her graduate student, Irving Shaknov, descended to a laboratory below Columbia University's Pupin Hall.
5 min read
Mar
21
One woman's discovery shook the foundations of geology

One woman's discovery shook the foundations of geology

Marie Tharp spent the fall of 1952 hunched over a drafting table, surrounded by charts, graphs, and jars of India
5 min read
Mar
20
Did scientists really discover a new superconductor?

Did scientists really discover a new superconductor?

At the American Physical Society’s annual March meeting in Las Vegas, Ranga Dias, a physicist at the University of
4 min read
Mar
17
Anne and Mary, fearsome pirates who were also lovers

Anne and Mary, fearsome pirates who were also lovers

Historian Rebecca Simon writes: Anne Bonny made an unforgettable impression from the bow of the pirate ship, Revenge, in the
4 min read