I’ve just wrapped up 16 months as Asia-Pacific Bureau Chief for Nature News. The very excellent Nicky Phillips took an extended parental leave to simultaneously have a baby and attend the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT, and needed someone to fill her enormous shoes.

What a privilege it was to work with the talented team at Nature News. The journalism at Nature emphasises quality. Unlike so many newsrooms these days, they still have a team of fact-checkers. In the world of the 24-hour news cycle, fact-free opinion, and churnalism, it was a pleasure to work the “old fashioned” way, pursuing balanced, fair and nuanced reporting.

A few highlights from my year and a bit (all paywalled, sorry):

COVID-origins study links raccoon dogs to Wuhan market: what scientists think
by Smriti Mallapaty
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00827-2
I was visiting London when we did this story. And Smriti, back home in Australia, stayed up very, very late to get this story over the line.

Polar bear fur-inspired sweater is thinner than a down jacket — and just as warm
by Gemma Conroy
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-04145-5
Because sometimes (often) science can be fun. And if there is fun to be had, Gemma will find it.

A 27,000-year-old pyramid? Controversy hits an extraordinary archaeological claim
by Dyani Lewis
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03546-w
What started as a quirky little story, quickly escalated into a question of whether the journal had erred in publishing the debated claim.

Does Ozempic boost fertility? What the science says
by Gillian Dohrn
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02045-w
Each year the APAC Bureau takes on a science journalism student from UC Santa Cruz. This year, Gillian pitched me this idea, and waded through reams of studies to find a story amongst it all.

Plus a huge thanks to the many freelance journalists who contributed stories throughout the year.