About Me

Hello!

I am an evolutionary biologist turned science journalist, eager to make sense of how science intersects with society. I’m currently a science correspondent at NPR, where I cover the wonders of the natural world and how policy affects them. Previously, I was a staff writer at Grid, where I covered public health, and at Science News, where I covered biology. My work has appeared elsewhere in The Atlantic, Quanta Magazine, Nature News, Scientific American and Wired. In the summer of 2018 AAAS Mass Media Fellow at the Dallas Morning News, where I reported on stories as varied as an international collaboration to study neutrinos to a local lab's investigations into the neurobiology of pain.

Before my Mass Media fellowship, I was an assistant producer for Brains On, a science podcast for kids from American Public Media. I produced two episodes, in addition to writing and producing segments of episodes, conducting interviews with scientists, editing audio, and pitching ideas. Some of my favorite stories covered how scientists discovered plate tectonics, and how a tiny insect called the beaded-lacewing can kill termites with its farts.

In my PhD work at Cornell University, I was uncovering the story of how a group of Hawaiian Laupala crickets form new species at a remarkable rate, diversifying into 38 different species with similar ecology, but very different songs - and an elaborate, day-long (!) mating ritual.

Part of my story, and what’s led me to where I am now, was a serious concussion I suffered while in graduate school. During my AAAS Mass Media Fellowship, I wrote a personal essay about my journey. It ran on the front page of the Sunday Arts & Life section of the Dallas Morning News.

Different, but still whole: a young scientist reflects on his journey back from brain injury

Email: jonlambert526@gmail.com