FROM MY BOOK

The 10,000 Year Clock (book excerpt)
February 2, 2016, Hazlitt

A Bright Approach to Brain Implants
January 22, 2016, a commentary for the Wall Street Journal

SCIENCE STORIES

A Neurosurgeon's Remarkable Plan to Treat Stroke Victims with Stem Cells
November, 2018, Smithsonian

Through Google Glass, Remote Helper Sees What A Blind Person Can't
July 12, 2017, KQED Future of You

Isolation is a Big Health Risk for Seniors. But There's Community Online
October 4, 2017, KQED Future of You

Sound System Allows Deaf People to Experience Music Like Never Before
August 15, 2016, KQED Future of You

Seniors Go Virtual to Relieve Pain, Loneliness
July 27, 2016, KQED Future of You

From the Olympics to the NFL, the Future of Training is Wearable Tech
July 15, 2016, KQED Future of You

Cashing Out
In the digital era, can anything be money?
October 2012, Stanford Magazine

That's Professor Global Hawk
A remote-piloted warrior starts flying for science.
April, 2011, Air & Space

New Light on the Brain
By combining genetics with fiber optics, Karl Deisseroth has given researchers a powerful tool with which to probe our most enigmatic organ.
December, 2010, Stanford Magazine

The Sex Scholar
Decades before Kinsey, Clelia Mosher was proving that Victorian women weren't so ... Victorian.
April 2010, Stanford Magazine

Assembly Required
Drew Endy builds a synthetic biology revolution out of very small parts.
August 2009, Stanford Magazine

The Forever Plane
Odysseus, an autonomous surveillance-plane concept, will fly for years on end, powered by nothing but the sun.
June 2009, Popular Science

Die Green
Go gently into that good night.
Summer 2008, Terrain

A Scanner, Smartly
Researchers are learning how to "read" your visual cortex
July 2008, California

Seeing is Believing
Maybe virtual reality isn't just a game anymore.
January 2008, Stanford Magazine
SWM Seeking Alien Hottie
Craigslist …. in … spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!
April 20, 2005, East Bay Express

Bug Juice
Looking for a way to power hydrogen fuel cells … using termite guts.
September 7, 2005, East Bay Express

Great Expectations
Why do zoo elephants keep killing their own offspring?
June 2003, Smithsonian

The Pentagon Goes to the Video Arcade
The military’s quest to turn shoot-‘em-up gaming software into the ultimate training tool.
July 1999, The Progressive

PROFILES

Tidepools and Terrorists
Rafe Sagarin wonders if you can translate the adaptive tactics of nature to defending a nation.
February 2012, Stanford Magazine

The Story Behind The Story of Stuff
A Q&A with environmental activist Annie Leonard about the surprise success of her Internet video and her lifetime fascination with garbage
Spring 2010, Terrain

Sleuth or Dare
How mystery writer Joe Gores recreated Sam Spade.
May 2009, Stanford Magainze

The Six
One of the last Douglas DC-6 Cloudmasters still flying helped build the H-bomb, changed the travel industry, and ultimately became a movie star.
July 2009, Air & Space

Love At First Byte
A profile of computer science pioneer Donald Knuth, author of The Art of Computer Programming, and first-class sweetheart.
May 2006, Stanford Magazine

Remote Control
Meet robot artist Ken Goldberg, a guy who is too smart for only one career.
November 11, 2005, East Bay Express

Talking Head for the Undead
Professor Paranormal sees dead people. Or at least, he smells them.
February 5, 2003, East Bay Express

Eric Mills and the Horse He Rode In On
California’s one-man animal rights activism team takes on the rodeo.
June 4, 2003, East Bay Express

2C-T-7’s Bad Trip
A profile of psychedelic chemist Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin, and what happened when one of his lab inventions ran amok.
May 1, 2002, East Bay Express

Madam Middle
Back in 2001, people thought Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher might be the Democrats’ first female presidential candidate. A profile of a party’s rising star.
June 8, 2001, East Bay Express

The Collectors
Bruce Woodbury and Enid Westberg own the world’s largest collection of smiley faces. And that's just the tip of their collecting iceberg.
January 22, 1999, East Bay Express

ACTION ADVENTURES

Big Idea
The low-flying adventures of the Super Guppy, the world's fattest plane.
August 2008, Air & Space

The Hogs of War
Tagging along with the Patriot Guard Riders.
July 2006, Mother Jones

Creatures of the Night
Is sneaking pink plastic flamingos onto people’s yards in the middle of the night a business model? The Flamingess says yes.
April 26, 2006, East Bay Express

The $10 Million Woman
The strange travels of Picasso’s “Lady in White,” an oil painting looted by the Nazis during World War II.
August 4, 2004, East Bay Express

Join My Cult!
In the beginning, there was a bar bet. The very strange genesis of Danny Wallace's cult of Join Me.
July 21, 2004, East Bay Express

Lost in Iowa
Surviving the Iowa caucuses in the heart of Howard Dean's Perfect Storm.
January 21, 2004, East Bay Express

The Secret of the Santa Maria
In the seventeen years Margaret Brandeis spent hunting for the wreck of the Santa Maria de los Remedios off the coast of Ecuador, she encountered scheming rivals, poisonous sea snakes, crooked diviners, witches, mutinies, and parasites. And that wasn’t even the weird part.
July 16, 2003, East Bay Express

It Was A Dark and Stormy Month…
The year National Novel Writing Month broke.
December 19, 2001, East Bay Express

Rocky Nights in San Leandro
A case study in what happens when three undercover cops turn up at an unusually wild showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
April 6, 2001, East Bay Express

HEALTH & MEDICINE

Fair Enough?
Are our minds wired for bias? And if so, what can we do about it?
September, 2010, Stanford Magazine

Green the Machines
Could the future of fuel come from the most ancient green thing of all ... algae?
Fall 2009, Terrain

The Meek Shall Inherit the Earthquake
When disaster strikes, those who depend on neighborhood clinics and other community organizations will feel its most lasting reverberations.
March 2009, California

iProd
Forget willpower. What you need is a digital nagging device.
July 2008, Stanford Magazine

Thinking Outside the Cell
For decades, Mina Bissell preached an outsider gospel about what causes cancer. But now, outside is in.
December 12, 2007, East Bay Express

A Cure for All That Ails You?
Is freezing your kids’ umbilical cord blood a potential lifesaver, or just another expensive birthday present they’ll never use?
August 22, 2007, East Bay Express

The Fragile Ones
A gene mutation called Fragile X Syndrome may help researchers unlock the secrets of the cause of autism. Kids like Lucas Clark, who have both, will their Rosetta Stone.
April 19, 2006, East Bay Express

Live, Fast, Die Old
Calorie restrictors chew their way to eternal life, one plateful at a time.
January 18, 2006, East Bay Express

It's a Boy! We Made Sure of It
Does the road to eugenics begin with gender selection?
November 3, 2004, East Bay Express

The Making of a Martyr
The life, death and politicization of Holly Patterson, the first American woman to die after using RU-486 (medical abortion.)
December 17, 2003, East Bay Express

Misery Without Borders
HIV and the migrant farm worker.
February 16, 2001, East Bay Express

REVIEWS AND ESSAYS

A Series of Unfortunate Books
The works of Daniel Handler (or is it Lemony Snicket?)
Fall 2002, East Bay Express

Sour Times
Lemon, by Lawrence Krauser
May 25, 2001, East Bay Express


• • • •
All content copyright Kara Platoni. Please contact for permission before reproducing.