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. Health & Medicine

    Mom’s past drug abuse may alter brain chemistry of offspring

    A new study in rats suggests that the lingering effects of adolescent opiate use may be passed on for two generations, even if the female is drug-free when she gets pregnant.

  2. Life

    Three scientists, three wishes (with extras for the cosmologist)

    Research luminaries reveal the questions they'd most like to see answered.

  3. Quantum weirdness

    Here are some key concepts in quantum mechanics experiments — and how those concepts play out in the real world.

  4. Quantum Physics

    Like fate of cat, quantum debate is still unresolved

    Entanglement is now one of the hottest research fields in physics. It is pursued not only for insights into the nature of reality, but also for developing new technologies.

  5. Quantum Physics

    Clash of the Quantum Titans

    After decades of debate, disputes over the mathematical rules governing reality remain unresolved.

  6. A New View of Gravity

    Entropy and information may be crucial concepts for explaining roots of familiar force.

  7. Book Review: Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History by Ahmad Dallal

    Review by Tom Siegfried.

  8. Climate

    New carbon data should produce better climate forecasts

    BLOG: More refined measurements for carbon dioxide input by plants and carbon dioxide released during respiration will help models, Science News editor in chief Tom Siegfried reports from the Euroscience Open Forum 2010 in Turin, Italy.

  9. Astronomy

    The universe according to Planck

    Science News editor in chief Tom Siegfried reports on a new image of the early cosmos from the Euroscience Open Forum meeting in Turin, Italy.

  10. Law & Disorder

    Physicists keep trying to explain why time flows one way.

  11. Humans

    Odds Are, It’s Wrong

    Science fails to face the shortcomings of statistics.

  12. A black future

    Without destroying the Earth, the Large Hadron Collider might help humans explore the cosmos.