Home / Alexandra Witze

I’m a science journalist in Boulder, Colorado, who specializes in the earth, planetary and astronomical sciences. See below for selected clips, or check out my Twitter feed for more recent news (@alexwitze).

My book ISLAND ON FIRE, coauthored with my husband Jeff Kanipe, is about the extraordinary 18th-century eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki.

Reach me at witzescience@gmail.com.

The Open Notebook • 6th November 2018

How to read a scientific paper

In which I provide tips for journalists on how to wade through all that technical jargon — and come out with a story.

Nature • 19th September 2018

The quest to conquer Earth’s space junk problem

Zombie satellites, rocket shards and collision debris are creating major traffic risks in orbits around the planet. Researchers are working to reduce the threats posed by more than 20,000 objects in space.

Nature • 26th July 2018

Milky Way’s black hole provides long-sought test of Einstein’s general relativity

An observation decades in the making confirms predictions about how light behaves in an immense gravitational field.

Knowable Magazine • 12th July 2018

How to build a mountain range

Geologists explore the rise of the Andes, whose high-altitude peaks and plateau alter global climate.

The Atlantic • 26th April 2018

Earth may have been formed by a bunch of tiny space pebbles

In the early days of our solar system, the fastest way to build a planet was likely through small bodies, not giant ones, crashing into each other.

Science News • 5th April 2018

Flying insects tell tales of long-distance migrations

Every autumn, a quiet mountain pass in the Swiss Alps turns into an insect superhighway.

Air & Space Magazine • 1st October 2017

As the earth melts

ABOVE THE NORTHEAST GREENLAND ICE STREAM — Seen from the window of a Lockheed P-3 Orion turboprop flying at 1,500 feet, Greenland’s ice seems to go on forever.

Science News • 26th July 2017

How earthquake scientists eavesdrop on North Korea’s nuclear blasts

Waves and ripples in the Earth can reveal the location and depth of an explosion.

Nature • 18th January 2017

The $2.4-billion plan to steal a rock from Mars

NASA is now building the rover that it hopes will bring back signs of life on the red planet.