Moderators

Michael Specter

Michael Specter has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1998. He writes often about science, technology, and global public health. Since joining the magazine, he has published articles about genetically engineered foods, avian influenza, malaria; the world’s diminishing freshwater resources, synthetic biology, the attempt to create edible meat in a lab, the use of geoengineering to mitigate climate change, the power of the human microbiome and the meaning of the term “carbon footprint.” He has also published many profiles of subjects including Lance Armstrong, Peter Singer, Richard Branson, Sean (P. Diddy) Combs, Manolo Blahnik, and Miuccia Prada, Ingrid Newkirk, and Dr. Mehmet Oz.

In 1996, Specter received the Overseas Press Club’s Citation for Excellence for his reporting of the war in Chechnya. He has twice won the Global Health Council’s annual Excellence in Media Award, first for his 2001 article about AIDS, “India’s Plague,” and secondly for his 2004 article “The Devastation,” about the ethics of testing H.I.V. vaccines in Africa. He also received the 2002 AAAS Science Journalism Award, for his article, “Rethinking the Brain,” on the scientific basis of how we learn. His most recent book, “Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives,” received the 2009 Robert P. Balles Annual Prize in Critical Thinking, presented by The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Additional Information

Website: http://www.michaelspecter.com/