Tom Siegfried

Tom Siegfried

Contributing Correspondent

Tom Siegfried is a contributing correspondent. He was editor in chief of Science News from 2007 to 2012, and he was the managing editor from 2014 to 2017. He is the author of the blog Context. In addition to Science News, his work has appeared in Science, Nature, Astronomy, New Scientist and Smithsonian. Previously he was the science editor of The Dallas Morning News. He is the author of four books: The Bit and the Pendulum (Wiley, 2000); Strange Matters (National Academy of Sciences’ Joseph Henry Press, 2002);  A Beautiful Math (2006, Joseph Henry Press); and The Number of the Heavens (Harvard University Press, 2019). Tom was born in Lakewood, Ohio, and grew up in nearby Avon. He earned an undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University with majors in journalism, chemistry and history, and has a master of arts with a major in journalism and a minor in physics from the University of Texas at Austin. His awards include the American Geophysical Union's Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism, the Science-in Society award from the National Association of Science Writers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science-Westinghouse Award, the American Chemical Society’s James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, and the American Institute of Physics Science Communication Award.

All Stories by Tom Siegfried

  1. Humans

    Reports of junk DNA’s ‘demise’ were based on junky logic and dubious definitions

    Science is an oddly successful enterprise. On the whole, it provides an impressive guide to reality. From antibiotics and atomic bombs to laser beams and X-rays, science enables humans to forge powerful tools from nature’s secrets. Yet many aspects of science are deeply flawed, from the politicization of research funding to widespread misuse of math […]

  2. Math

    Explanations for time’s arrow keep marching on

  3. Math

    Real-life Maxwell’s demon adds fuel to debate about status of the second law

    Fight Club had its First Rule (don’t talk about Fight Club). The Transporter enforces Rule Number 1 (never change the deal). And NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs observes Rule 1 (never mix the suspects together in the same room). Physics has the second law of thermodynamics. It’s weird when you think about it. Movies […]

  4. Math

    Poll of quantum physicists shows agreement, disagreement and something in between

  5. Math

    Rules for computing classical probabilities might depend on quantum randomness

  6. Space

    Light in the Dark

    Scientists may be on the brink of identifying a mysterious form of matter.

  7. Math

    Maybe there’s a way to find out if reality is a computer simulation

    Randomness.

  8. Physics

    Physicists’ theories, biology’s brains work best when they’re models of efficiency

  9. Physics

    To build a clock that ticks forever, you need a spacetime crystal blueprint

  10. Math

    The Joy of x

    A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity by Steven Strogatz.

  11. Physics

    Scientists seek mathematical insights for taming and explaining ‘dragon kings’

  12. Making Data Work

    Researchers pursue analogy between statistical evidence and thermodynamics.