Rachel Nuwer’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 researched Mekong River fishes in Laos, sparking a passion for travel and exploration. This wunderlust has since taken her to 46 countries.

In 2010 Rachel returned to Southeast Asia to investigate illegal wildlife trade and natural resource use in Vietnam for her ecology master’s thesis at the University of East Anglia, England. In 2011, She earned a second master’s degree at New York University’s Science, Health, and Environmental Writing Program (SHERP).

She writes for venues such as the New York Times, Smithsonian, Scientific American, the New Scientist, Grist, Audubon Magazine, Popular Mechanics, ScienceNOW, OnEarth, NOVA, Scholastic, Edible Magazine, and others, and blogs for Smithsonian’s Smart News and Surprising Science. She lives in Brooklyn.