Sign in

Sarah Scoles

@sarahscoles.bsky.social
803 followers 996 following 32 posts

Journalist, universe liker, mountain scaler, Custer County Search and Rescue member, contributor to Undark and Scientific American, author of Countdown: The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons. Etc.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Sarah Scoles
Robin Berghaus @robinberghaus.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Writers, bring your pitches for feedback on Sept 27 @11:15am at Pitch Slam! @sciencewriters.org #NASW #SciWri26 Panelists: Chuck Squatriglia @grist.org @rachelcourtland.com @technologyreview.com Brian Kahn @wired.com @hanner.bsky.social @quantamagazine.org 🔗 Register sciencewriters2026.org
ScienceWriters2026
Corvallis, OR

Pitch Slam 
September 27 at 11:15am

Photos of panelists include:
Chuck Squatriglia | Senior Editor, Grist
Rachel Courtland | Commissioning Editor, MIT Technology Review
Brian Kahn | Senior Science Editor, WIRED
Hannah Waters | Senior Editor, Biology, Quanta Magazine

Moderator and organizers
Sarah Scoles, Virginia Gewin, and Robin Berghaus

LIVE in Corvallis, writers will pitch one-minute story ideas and receive immediate feedback from editors!
145
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
When happens when engineers are also mountaineers: my story about the Gilbertson twins, who climb mountains with GPS surveying equipment to make sure the topographic truth is out there. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/s...
nytimes.com
Twins’ Peaks: The Gilbertson Brothers Want to Rewrite Your Country’s Map
043
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
The Cloverdale Mine never made anyone rich. But it meant a lot to Bill Humble, who spent years living at the abandoned mine -building and repairing, surprising hikers, getting away from society. His grandson is trying to preserve the site and that story. www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a...
altaonline.com
The Ghosts of Cloverdale
How one family preserves a mountain mine’s last chapter.
042
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Ever wonder what happened to that $100 million interstellar spaceship program? Me too. www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...
scientificamerican.com
A $100-Million Mission to Another Star Just Disappeared
An abandoned plan to visit another star highlights the perils of billionaire-funded science
25924
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
More than ever, I find, editors want a story fully nailed down in the pitch stage ("What will happen? What will you uncover?" "I don't know, man, that's what you're supposed to pay me to find out?"). But it's easy to give them what they want if you make it up. pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/d...
pressgazette.co.uk
Wired and Business Insider remove 'AI-written' freelance articles
Wired and Business Insider have removed freelance articles over concerns they were written by AI under a fake name.
2131
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Alec is a great guy and a great journalist. He recently went for a backpacking trip on a glacier in Norway and is now missing. Please help spread the word in case someone knows something that can help searchers. www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
cbsnews.com
Climate journalist Alec Luhn missing on Norwegian glacier
A search is underway for award-winning climate journalist Alec Luhn, a Wisconsin native, who is missing on a Norwegian glacier.
033
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Earlier this year, I wrote about a controversial Science paper from 15 years ago. It was about a microbe that could reportedly use arsenic in its biology. After I contacted Science for that story, its editors began to discuss retracting the paper. Today, they did. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/s...
nytimes.com
Claim of Microbe That Survives on Arsenic Is Retracted After 15 Years
2163
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
This is where I live, and where I live we respect the sanctity of hot dogs. Last year, this also happened with a shipment of shredded cheese, which was treated with the same level of dignity.
050
Reposted by Sarah Scoles
William Engels @william-engels.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Very happy to release my episode on government labs, nuclear weapons safety, nonproliferation, UFOs and more with @sarahscoles.bsky.social - had a blast (in the non-literal sense, luckily) and highly recommend. open.spotify.com/episode/6ofy...
open.spotify.com
Hemlock #24 - Countdown: Journalist Sarah Scoles on Nuclear Weapons Safety, Jill Tarter and SETI, Nuclear LARPing, the Golden Dome and Missile Defense, and What Really Happens at Los Alamos
History of Philosophy Audio Archive · Episode
131
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Last year, I went on my honeymoon to Norway. Up north, where we'd gone to see the Northern Lights, we kept running into satellite ground station antennas. Anyway, turns out you can get some work out of your honeymoon if you want. undark.org/2025/03/19/g...
undark.org
A Powerhouse of Global Satellite Infrastructure: Norway?
The country supports some of the world’s most important satellites. But experts worry about its proximity to Russia.
081
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Do you remember the #arseniclife controversy from the long-ago internet? Here's my retrospective about what went on behind the scenes and within the science community back then, what happened to the scientist at the center of it all, and what's going on now. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/s...
nytimes.com
Her Discovery Wasn’t Alien Life, but Science Has Never Been the Same
The internet erupted in controversy over Felisa Wolfe-Simon and colleagues’ claim of a microbe thriving on arsenic. Nearly 15 years later, she’s pursuing new research on the boundaries of life.
9227
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
TGIF
060
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
I wrote this story about the lunar space station that may or may not survive the changes that often come for NASA with new presidential administrations. Which, of course, is part of the story. undark.org/2025/01/22/g...
030
Reposted by Sarah Scoles
Longreads @longreads.com · 24/12/2024
"In the future, humans may not be the only arbiters of who lives and dies, with decisions instead in the hands of algorithms." @sarahscoles.bsky.social @undark.org #longreads
buff.ly
The Technology for Autonomous Weapons Exists. What Now?
In the future, humans may not be the only arbiters of who lives and dies in war, as weapons gain decision-making power.
051
Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
Hi, I migrated over. Do we introduce? I'm Sarah, I write articles and sometimes books, usually about science and national security, and then when I'm done I run around in the wilderness, usually with wild dogs. Happy holidays.
2220