Sequencer Magazine

James Watson sold the idea of himself How much could a man like Watson, an unrepentant racist, really understand about what DNA is?

In the wake of James Watson's death, I tried really, really hard to come up with something to say. And all I really had to say was: we really fucked up with treating this guy like a hero. Watson sold the world a bill of goods. For @sequencermag.bsky.social.

www.sequencermag.com/james-watson...

A million billion trillion thanks to @hanner.bsky.social for editing and truly helping craft this piece with me from the ground up. We published this in 2024 and it remains one of my personal favorites 💗

It's pub day!! The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2025 is out. I'm thrilled to appear with @sequencermag.bsky.social alongside many talented writers whose work I revere. Including the pieces in this anthology

Get a copy from an indie store to support the series
bookshop.org/a/114150/978...

What we learn in the footsteps of wolves Up close and personal with nature's notoriously elusive carnivore.

Today on the site we have three new pieces all about wolves, led by an essay from @maxlevy.bsky.social that weaves together two notable books.

www.sequencermag.com/what-we-lear...

The story (the essay that accompanies the newsletter) was a labor of love and felt destined to come out at the time. Thanks to Shi En Kim for the edits and @sequencermag.bsky.social
mentorship program!

Finding a Wolf Den in the Arctic An excerpt from The Ellesmere Wolves, by L. David Mech, Morgan Anderson and H. Dean Cluff.

Oops, here's the link www.sequencermag.com/finding-a-wo...

What we learn in the footsteps of wolves Up close and personal with nature's notoriously elusive carnivore.

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And an excerpt from L. David Mech's The Ellesmere Wolves, about a surprisingly tame population of High Arctic wolves Mech studied for decades.

"Greeted by seven barking and howling wolves, elated that I had finally located an active den"

The Eerily Familiar Politics of Europe's Wolves Why wolves are such a potent political tool. Author Adam Weymouth on carnivores and scapegoats.

Next, an interview with Adam Weymouth, author of Lone Wolf

"It was quite clearly a love story. If it were about two people, it would be two people that defied odds and walked across the continent and somehow found each other in thousands of square miles"

www.sequencermag.com/the-eerily-f...

What we learn in the footsteps of wolves Up close and personal with nature's notoriously elusive carnivore.

Today on the site we have three new pieces all about wolves, led by an essay from @maxlevy.bsky.social that weaves together two notable books.

www.sequencermag.com/what-we-lear...

Newsletter Sept. 25, 2025: Tylenol misogyny “To the woman he said, 'I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.'” - Gen...

Hey read this @sequencermag.bsky.social piece (and the essay it links to) for some really good insight re: the supposed Tylenol and autism link.

Help Boneshaker Move to Our New Home! After fourteen years in our current space, we have made the decision that it’s time for Boneshaker Books to move. While we treasure the time we've spent in Seward, and will miss existing as a communit...

BONESHAKER BOOKS IS MOVING! And we need your help! After 14 years the stalwart volunteer-run bookstore @boneshakerbooks.bsky.social is moving from Seward to Uptown* and has a fundraiser to get us across town. Perks include prints, totes, and your name on the wall!

www.zeffy.com/en-US/donati...

Help Boneshaker Move to Our New Home! After fourteen years in our current space, we have made the decision that it’s time for Boneshaker Books to move. While we treasure the time we've spent in Seward, and will miss existing as a communit...

NEWS: Boneshaker Books is moving! And we need your help to pull it off! We are looking to raise $15,000 to get us there and set up. $6,000 of that needs to be raised by 10/17. Please share! Radical bookstores forever! @boneshakerbooks.bsky.social

www.zeffy.com/en-US/donati...

We count on reader support. Help us continue science reporting like this but subscribing at this link:

www.sequencermag.com/the-covert-p...

The covert project to (finally) measure hellish subway heat Meet Jack Klein, the guy who stealthily collects data about New York’s hottest days underground.

NY subway platforms feel hot as hell in the summer.

Meet Jack Klein, the guy who stealthily collects data about New York’s hottest days underground.

🚇New in @sequencermag.bsky.social

www.sequencermag.com/the-covert-p...

Sequencer Decode the universe. A writer-owned popular science magazine

@sequencermag.bsky.social is on Ghost!

They're a writer-owned publication run by science journalists @goesbykim.bsky.social, @maxlevy.bsky.social, @dsamorod.bsky.social, and @maddiebender.bsky.social

www.sequencermag.com

Sequencer Decode the universe. A writer-owned popular science magazine

"How do we connect with nature? Fleeting thoughts for a fleeting summer" was a thoughtful post by Max Levy that I read today in my newsletter from Sequencer Magazine.
www.sequencermag.com
@sequencermag.bsky.social‬

Cyborg rights depend on new and better legal protections Law and policy scholars consider whether pacemakers powered by the users themselves can resist corporate control, and how far the augmentation of the human body extends into the law.

When will the law cover the rights of cyborgs? New piece on Sequencer, live now:

www.sequencermag.com/cyborg-right...

Cyborg rights depend on new and better legal protections Law and policy scholars consider whether pacemakers powered by the users themselves can resist corporate control, and how far the augmentation of the human body extends into the law.

Do cyborgs have rights? When an airline damages a prosthetic, is that bodily harm or property damage? Another fascinating banger from Haley McAllister, up now @sequencermag.bsky.social

www.sequencermag.com/cyborg-right...

What AI can actually do to your critical thinking skills Chatbots won't obliterate everyone's critical thinking. Lessons from the past tech revolutions and today’s experts signal how to protect your mind.

"A couple months ago, while I was thumbing through old magazines at a record shop, I landed on a gem. “Learning To Love the Computer” emblazoned the cover of Nutshell magazine, a now-defunct periodical for college students," writes @maxlevy.bsky.social

www.sequencermag.com/ai-critical-...

What AI can actually do to your critical thinking skills Chatbots won't obliterate everyone's critical thinking. Lessons from the past tech revolutions and today’s experts signal how to protect your mind.

"A couple months ago, while I was thumbing through old magazines at a record shop, I landed on a gem. “Learning To Love the Computer” emblazoned the cover of Nutshell magazine, a now-defunct periodical for college students," writes @maxlevy.bsky.social

www.sequencermag.com/ai-critical-...

Scientists Are Just Beginning to Understand How Life Makes Clouds, and Their Discoveries May Drastically Improve Climate Science Plants, plankton and sea spray all release elements that help the atmospheric blankets form

Clouds play an important role regulating the climate. To incorporate clouds into climate models scientists are learning more about the *biology* of clouds: studies of plants, plankton & organics flung up by sea spray.

Major thanks @joespring.bsky.social for edits on this

tinyurl.com/388ncr38

"Drilled" goes deep on fossil fuel industry misinformation and the legacy of Standing Rock Investigative journalist Alleen Brown, the host of the podcast's 12th season, spoke with Sequencer about the how energy companies use misinformation in courtrooms and the court of public opinion.

At Standing Rock, the FBI had 10+ inside informants. The pipeline's security company used Iraq War tactics. Modern disinfo tactics were rampant.

For @sequencermag.bsky.social I talked with @alleenbrown.bsky.social of @drilledmedia.bsky.social about misinfo and the legacy of Standing Rock.

As seen on Sequencer Checkout out this list on Bookshop

If you've ever read a book review on Sequencer and wondered, "hey, where can I buy this book?" don't worry, we've got you covered: buy it on our Bookshop storefront!

bookshop.org/lists/as-see...

A screenshot of a newsletter entitled "A bioluddite's dance with Death" with a picture of a skeleton dancing in front of two people

If you're not subscribed to @sequencermag.bsky.social's newsletter, you should be! Get another 2,000 words sent directly to your inbox, with a fun picture of me dancing with my friends:

A heart-powered pacemaker could free patients from the grips of medical device makers Engineers in South Korea developed a battery-free pacemaker powered by the beating of the heart that could, potentially, last a lifetime.

New on @sequencermag.bsky.social: medical device makers have a long history of stranding patients or straight up killing them with poorly manufactured batteries. A new kind of pacemaker, powered by the heart itself, could last a lifetime and free patients. From our mentee, Haley McAllister:

Who even wants to live forever? Centuries of scientists, physicians, and con men have tried to sell the idea of radically extending life beyond what medicine and good hygiene can achieve. Don’t believe them.

I wrote about a personal belief of mine for @sequencermag.bsky.social: that life-extension people, and by extension a lot of biofuturists who promise the world but ultimately are just selling something, are hacks. Be a bioluddite instead.

www.sequencermag.com/who-even-wan...

Now that people are talking to/about AI as if they're people, is the internet going to have to switch to serif fonts?

Lower case "L" and capital "I" look identical. And people use chatbots for therapy and itineraries.

"I asked AI for advice"

Alex? Claude? Albert? ChatGPT????

The Innovative Way Surgeons Rehearse Surgical simulations are about more than just practicing fine motor skills.

In true Sequencer fashion, I wrote something about something that seems silly but really isn't that silly IMO!!

Maybe season 3 of The Rehearsal can be in an operating room...

Read a report from my little field trip here:
www.sequencermag.com/the-innovati...

On Fear, Death, and Phosphorus Author Jack Lohmann speaks to Sequencer about the complicated story of phosphorus: “There might be little pieces of Nauru in your teeth.”

NEW: "If you then read in a newspaper about human rights abuses happening in Nauru, you're implicated against your will... Your body is a part of that story."

@maxlevy.bsky.social speaks with Jack Lohmann about his book, WHITE LIGHT

www.sequencermag.com/on-fear-deat...