Hannah Waters writes about science for Nature Medicine and her blog Culturing Science. Before that, she studied the epigenetics of aging in Philadelphia, marine food webs off the coast of Oregon, and coastal conservation in Maine. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Latin from Carleton College in Northfield, MN.

Blog Posts

• Instant Reaction: The Enigma of Genius

  
  Genius: What is it and how do geniuses get that way? This diverse panel of scientists and artists discussed the characteristics that define a genius, its relationship with mental illness, sacrifice, and whether modern information overload could degrade creativity. Read »

• Instant Reaction: Cryptography in a Connected World

  Cryptography—the art and science of hiding information—was once the work of scholars with a bit too much time on their hands but is now inescapable in our digital world. The truly brilliant panelists explained not only how encryption works on the web (Think: really hard math problems as padlocks), but we were also blessed with a demonstration by Simon Singh of an original enigma machine used by the Germans to encrypt messages during World War I, and the panelists debated one of the more ignored but critical questions of our time: Is our information safe out there? Read »

• Instant Reaction: Rhythms on the Brain

  One of life's eternal questions was addressed at the Eyebeam Center for Technology, one that each of us has been pondering since birth: What makes The Beatles The Beatles? The World Science Festival brought four music-lovers onstage—a neural scientist, a producer, and two journalists—to reflect on why people listen to music. Read »

• Instant Reaction: Mysteries of the Mathematical Universe

  Following a short film about the omnipresence of math in our everyday lives, whether we notice it or not, four men who eat and breathe mathematics discussed their passion: how they got into math, whether the eccentric mathematical genius is a true trope, and why current standards for teaching math fails students. Read »

• Instant Reaction: Women in Science

  
  At the Galapagos Art Space under the Manhattan Bridge, with candles and cocktails reflected in dark pools below, five scientists shared what they research, why they do it, and what it means for each of them, personally, to be a woman scientist. Read »