Contributor

B. David Zarley

Senior Staff Writer

Contact

b.david@freethink.com

B. David Zarley is a senior staff writer for Freethink, where he covers health and medicine, including infectious disease, psychedelic research, mental health, and the brain. A graduate of SUNY Fredonia, his work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Verge, Jezebel, Frieze, Sports Illustrated, VICE, Paste Magazine, and numerous other publications. He lives in Chicago and can be reached via Signal by request. Send him story ideas!

Coronavirus

WeChat users try to keep Shanghai lockdown protest video ahead of censors

WeChat users have turned to all manner of tricks in a cat-and-mouse game with CCP censors to keep a video about the Shanghai lockdown online.

B. David Zarley

Climate Crisis

Bioluminescent bacteria will soon light up this French street

French commune Rambouillet is serving as a testing ground for the soft glow of bioluminescent bacteria on the street.

B. David Zarley

Outer Space

Europa’s icy shell may harbor habitable pockets

Using radar data from our own world, Stanford researchers have proposed a new place to look for life on Jupiter’s icy moon.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

Computer-designed miniproteins unleash a whole new kind of drugs

Using a computer program, researchers have created miniproteins that they hope can lead to new drugs.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

T cells and viruses, an unlikely duo, team up to kill tumors

A new Mayo Clinic-developed immunotherapy combining CAR-T cells and cancer-killing viruses looks promising in mouse models.

B. David Zarley

Aerospace

Israeli and US Navy lasers successfully shoot down drones, rockets, artillery

Israeli and American armed forces have successfully tested air defense systems using lasers to destroy incoming targets.

B. David Zarley

Food

Smart sensor tells you exactly when fruit will ripen — or spoil

Inside vast warehouses, millions of fruits sit and slowly ripen. To help packers know when fruit has got to go, a biotech startup is turning to small sensors.

B. David Zarley

Neuroscience

Stanford scientists can control specific brain cells at a distance

Using infrared light and a Nobel Prize-winning molecule that detects chili pepper heat, researchers can control brain cells from a distance.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

A “magnetic tentacle robot” could hunt down cancer deep in your lungs

UK researchers have developed a small, flexible, snake-like "magnetic tentacle robot" to navigate deep into the lungs.

B. David Zarley

Virology

A shapeshifting volcano virus’s secret has been discovered

The secret to a shapeshifting volcano virus may help us create new, better drug and vaccine delivery platforms.

B. David Zarley