After beheading a few rats in the interest of neuroscience in the early 1980s, I realized hands-on research was not going to sit well with me. So I followed my undergraduate degree in chemistry from Rutgers University with graduate work in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University. Although I found this kind of study interesting enough, my main discovery as a graduate student was that my attention span was way too short for writing dissertations. So I took up science writing. When I published my first article in the southern Indiana newspaper then known as the Bloomington Herald-Tribune (known locally as the Horrible-Terrible), and even received $25 for my work, I knew I had found my niche. In 1986, I moved to Washington, DC, for a science writing internship at Science News. I subsequently worked as a staff writer for Science News and then Science magazine, and I have freelanced for many newspapers and magazines. After years of writing short articles and feature articles, I found part time work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and worked on my first book Stuff: the materials the world is made of, which came out in April, 1997. Last year, I finished my second book, called Pushing the Horizon, which is an historical narrative of the Naval Research Laboratory. I now am working as a part-time reporter for National Public Radio and writing for Fortune, Technology Review, the Washington Post, and several other publications. My partner in life is Mary Koepke Amato, who recently sold her first children's book, and we both learn many things everyday from our two young sons, Simon and Max. We all live in Silver Spring, Maryland.