Rachel Nuwer is an award-winning freelance journalist who reports about science, travel, food and adventure for The New York Times, Nature, Science, National Geographic, Scientific American and more. Her multi-award winning first book, Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking, was published in 2018 with Da Capo Press. Her second book, I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World, was published in June 2023 with Bloomsbury and was named a best book of the year by Amazon and Scientific American.
Rachel's love for nature and science was kicked off by a childhood exploring the bayous and beaches of southern Mississippi. As a biology student at Loyola University New Orleans, she spent time in Laos researching Mekong River fishes, sparking a passion for travel and conservation. This wanderlust has taken her to 80+ countries – six of which she has lived in.
Rachel holds master’s degrees in applied ecology and in science journalism. Since 2024 she has been an adjunct professor at New York University’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program, where she greatly enjoys helping the next generation of science journalists prepare for the challenges and rewards of a career in media.
She lives in Brooklyn with a computer programmer, two house buns and an exceptionally friendly cat. Reach her at rachelnuwer at gmail.