Los Angeles freelance science writer and editor
by Janice Nigro I’m a science writer, a natural transition into a different field after years as a bench scientist mixing reagents in test tubes. Scientists are not drawn to bench science because they have a specific aptitude for writing, or the desire to write, but there is a large body of literature they need... Continue Reading →
Sometimes you don’t get out of travel what you expect. Like the time I was stranded on a small island off the coast of Australia. The island was not too far from the mainland, but in between were box jellyfish and crocodile infested waters. Swimming back was not going to be an option. I took... Continue Reading →
As a scientist, you don’t get much time in the spotlight. It’s late nights and weekends, and you are often alone when you make your discoveries most of which go unnoticed by anyone outside of the niche of other scientists working on similar ideas. The pandemic brought a rare opportunity for a captive audience for... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro Early in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a non-scientist, the husband of a cousin of mine, asked, “Does life-threatening COVID-19 have anything to do with your genes?” At the time, he saw Italians and men dominating the list of persons worldwide succumbing to the pathogen. I didn’t know, and truth be told, as a molecular... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro Every mystery has a cast of characters that sidetracks you from the culprit. A good one keeps you guessing until the end. Then it surprises you. Is Covid-19 one of those stories? I didn’t think it was, and I may be overthinking the dump truck load of information out there on various... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro I left San Francisco, California for Bergen, Norway. In late fall. As a single woman. A few weeks before Christmas one year. Norwegians in San Francisco. Do you need to know how to dress for winter? Thanks, but I grew up in Chicago. Light cycles of shadow and dark on a backdrop... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro The same title convention, but I think we’re no longer in lockdown in Los Angeles. Maybe we’ve morphed into something else. Lockdown plus? Now windows and doors are boarded up, and military helicopters fly over long after it’s time for bed. It’s as if the words people sling at each other in... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro This week beats all. I started this post with this sentence before all hell broke loose across the USA and now the world. More on this in a minute, as the air reverberates from the force of military helicopters flying over my apartment in Los Angeles county. I started with this sentence... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro Ten weeks into lockdown in California, and I can't shake the strange factor. Nothing is yet routine. The beaches are now open, but after all this time without them, I haven’t been out there much anyway. I’ve been working. Even over the holiday weekend. Surprise to me, my clients from other countries have... Continue Reading →
by Janice Nigro Tomorrow at midnight, Week 9 under lockdown in California will be over and we will be heading into Week 10. If I really try, I can convince myself that I’ve been on a vacation. Maybe vacation isn’t the right word. Sabbatical? Hiatus? Artist-in-residence? (if I'm really generous to myself). Maybe these are... Continue Reading →
