Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
NPR News

Smart Science Writing from a 'Physics Phobe'

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

Listen 0:00
Listen

Jennifer Ouellette is a self-described "physics phobe" who couldn't tell a quark from a cathode ray. But after successfully avoiding the subject for more than 25 years, she stumbled into science writing as a freelance journalist. That led her to explore the fundamentals of physics from a cultural and historical perspective.

Ouellette's new book is Black Bodies and Quantum Cats, subtitled "Tales from the Annals of Physics." The author tells Liane Hansen she hopes readers will see that physics is more than a cold, hard discipline: it has emotional content.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right