Rachel Ehrenberg

Previously the interdisciplinary sciences and chemistry reporter and author of the Culture Beaker blog, Rachel has written about new explosives, the perils and promise of 3-D printing and how to detect corruption in networks of email correspondence. Rachel was a 2013-2014 Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT. She has degrees in botany and political science from the University of Vermont and a master’s in evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan. She graduated from the science writing program at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

All Stories by Rachel Ehrenberg

  1. Humans

    Chemists distinguish between gunshot residue from various firearms

    Analytical technique could lead to better crime scene investigation.

  2. Science & Society

    When it comes to food, it’s kosher for science and religion to mix

  3. Chemistry

    For truffle aroma, it’s not all about location

    Genes, not environment, play a key role in the prized fungus’s scent.

  4. Chemistry

    Protons on the move find novel molecular route

    Hydrogen bonds aren’t the only means of proton travel to another molecule, a study finds.

  5. Chemistry

    Polymer power drives tiny reactions

    Applying pressure to a building block of plastic in water, researchers generate enough energy to make your Nikes glow and do other chemical work.

  6. Life

    Bee genes may drive them to adventure

    Scouting behavior linked to certain molecules in insect brains.

  7. Physics

    Plants’ reproductive weaponry unfurled

    Botanical tricks include adhesion and bubbles to spread their spores into the environment.

  8. Humans

    Technique may reveal where it all began

    A new strategy overcomes a distance quandary as it tracks the origins of widespread phenomena — from an E. coli outbreak to a fad.

  9. Humans

    Modern era brings death to words

    An analysis of books published over two centuries shows how words are born or succumb to shifting social and technological influences.

  10. Neuroscience

    When video games mess with brains, something good happens, sometimes

  11. Math

    In figuring out what makes video games fun, the mystery is in the math

  12. Humans

    Scientists probe terrorist talk on ‘Dark Web’

    Mathematical tools can pry secretive terrorist communications in hidden sector of the Internet.