More Than Dirt
National Wildlife, 03/27/2017
Science is showing how healthy soil can help save the planet—and how we can all help improve what lies beneath our feet.
Contact Kristin Ohlson for readings, talks, writing projects, etc.
National Wildlife, 03/27/2017
Science is showing how healthy soil can help save the planet—and how we can all help improve what lies beneath our feet.
Discover, July/August 2016 Issue
Humans aren’t the only brainiacs. The old myths about clever animals may have been closer to the truth than science has been for much of its history.
Discover, July/August 2016 Issue
Invisible worlds, ultimate partners. A crescendo of evidence points to the central role of microorganisms — bacteria, viruses, fungi and algae — in the health of oceans, forests, soils, plants, humans and other animals.
American Archeology, Summer 2016
Research in Belizean caves has revealed paleoclimate data indicating the Maya suffered a series of droughts from the seventh through tenth centuries. The research also shows how the Maya beseeched their gods to end the droughts, the latest of which coincided with their collapse.
Orion Magazine, March/April 2016 Volume 35, Number 2
Rick Haney, gangly and garrulous, paces in front of a congregation of government conservationists, working the room for laughs before he gets to the hard data. The U.S. Department of Agriculture soil scientist points to an aerial photograph of research plots outside his facility in Temple, Texas. “Our drones took this shot,” he says, then shakes his head. “Kidding. We don’t have any drones.”
Discover, April 16, 2016
A century ago, Congress created the national park system — and ended up preserving some of the best research sites in the world.
art|sci Magazine, Spring | Summer 2015
Research by geologist Gerald Matisoff and colleagues assists efforts to improve water quality in Lake Erie.
Craftsmanship, January, 15, 2015
Mark Sturges doesn’t advertise and clients have to find him by word of mouth, but find him they do. He’s become a master of an agricultural art as old as agriculture itself: basic compost.
Takepart, November 18, 2014
Scientists, farmers, and chefs are developing new varieties of produce from heirloom seeds. It will make life better for organic farmers—and yummier for everyone else.
Aeon Magazine, July 2014
Our first three years are usually a blur and we don’t remember much before age seven. What are we hiding from ourselves?
Experience Life, June 30, 2014
Herbs were our first wonder drugs, and they remain powerful medicine to this day. Here are health-promoting plants to know now.
Experience Life, June 2014
How NSAIDS — nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin — can cause more pain than they relieve.
Modern Farmer, April 3, 2014
There are thousands and thousands of bees that are not honeybees out there, pollinating our flowers and helping plants produce food. Who knew?
April 2014, April 2014
Bipolar disorder can rage through life like a hurricane. So why does the US healthcare system leave us to cope alone?
Experience Life, March 2014
Mental health is not all in our heads. Nutrition is an oft-ignored — yet incredibly effective — way to manage mental illness, including schizophrenia.
Discover, December 2012
In a dog-eat-dog world, people still cooperate, collaborate, and help each other out. Our species’ urge to work together has remained an evolutionary paradox, seemingly at odds with Darwinian theory—until now.
Experience Life, November 2011
Most of the processed foods we eat are studded with mysterious additives. They extend shelf life. They create exciting flavors, colors and textures. But they don’t do great things for our health. Find out which ones to avoid, and why.
Discover, September 17, 2011
Would you kill a crying baby to save yourself and others from hostile soldiers outside? Neuroscience offers new ways to approach such moral questions, allowing logic to triumph over deep-rooted instinct.
Psychology Today, September 4, 2011
A person with a rare disease is doubly isolated: He or she lives with serious illness as well as uncertainty about treatment options. There is no choice for a patient but to become an expert and advocate extraordinaire.
Discover, July 1, 2011
One of the simplest keys to fighting global warming may be right under our feet.
Smithsonian.com, May 26, 2011
Garlic mustard and Asian carp can wreak havoc on their ecosystems, but do they have a future on your dinner plate?
Experience Life, December 2010
New research shows that sleep significantly influences metabolism, appetite and weight management. Could getting more shuteye help you ward off excess pounds?
Pacific Standard, July 10, 2010
In tasteful black-and-white photos, the nonprofit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep captures the bittersweet farewell of parents and their lost babies.
Discover, July/August 2010 Special Issue
Thousands of hidden fires smolder and rage through the world’s coal deposits, quietly releasing gases that can ruin health, devastate communities, and heat the planet.
Included in Best American Science Writing 2011
American Archaeology, Spring 2010
Archaeologists are in the unique position of studying the relationship between humans and their environments over millennia. Consequently, a number of them believe their work should inform current environmental debates.
Experience Life, May 2008
Not only does fast food tend to be unhealthy, but some of its ingredients are downright addictive. Here's how to kick the habit.
Experience Life, December 2007
Low-calorie food replacements have promised to make our weight-loss dreams come true, but research indicates that these pseudo-foods rarely deliver. In fact, they may set our weight-loss efforts back.
Christian Science Monitor, January 11, 2007
From his tasting room on the hilly outskirts of Oroville, Calif., Jamie Johannson can hear the workers picking his olives. Even when they are too far away for him to hear their voices, he can still detect the wind-chime-like clamor of them at work.
Entrepreneur, February 2006
Making ethanol from skunk beer? Forward-thinking entrepreneurs and their innovations in the field of renewable clean energy.
Brain, Child, Fall 2004
No one was making predictions about this child's capabilities. Twenty-seven years later, his mother still gets caught off guard.
Nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Included among the notable essays in Best American Essays 2005.
PITTMED University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Magazine, May 2003, Vol. 5, Issue 2
Patients with the same condition may require different treatments.
New Scientist, October 5, 2002, Vol. 176, No. 2363
Studying twins is still a vital tool for 21st century geneticists, even with the human genome map at their fingertips. Kristin Ohlson gets stuck into the nature-nurture debate.
New Scientist, January 12, 2002, Number 2325
How do you spot minute traces of chemicals in drinking water? Simple—build a fish that lights up when it swallows the poison.
Discover, January 2001
Art Conservator Ellen Baxter was baffled. The morning after a gala exhibition opening at Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol Museum, she discovered someone had planted a kiss on a vintage Warhol painting— "Bathtub"— and left behind a full-lipped imprint of bright red lipstick.
The New York Times, May 10, 1999 (page A 16)
PAINESVILLE, OH—His hands held high over his head, Michael Warren jabbed at his thumb with a knife as bright and shiny as the phalanx of motorcycles that surrounded him. Some people in the crowd winced and turned away, but when they looked back again, Mr. Warren still had not managed to tease out the drop of ritual blood.
The New York Times, May 11, 1998 (page A 10)
MITCHELL, SOUTH DAKOTA—Maybe this will be the summer for black corn. In a barn as clean as a clinic and as richly arrayed as a curio shop, Dean Strand pried the lid off an old plastic bucket labeled “black by dark red” and sank his hand into the liver-colored kernels inside.