I am a journalist covering how people use science, markets & serendipity to test new ideas, with a special interest in the developing world. I write for Scientific American, IEEE Spectrum, & many other magazines. I’ve filed stories from over a dozen countries on five continents and from one ocean crossing. I have lived in and reported from Cambridge, UK; Zurich, Switzerland; Madrid, Spain; and Oaxaca, Mexico. Here are my datelines, so far:
I’ve been a freelance journalist since 2007. In 2016 I added to the mix scientific translation from Spanish to English. I have also taken short breaks to intern at Nature and play archaeologist. Before that I studied astrophysics at Harvard and spent a few summers writing for the Let’s Go travel guidebooks. Along the way I’ve:
- Examined energy subsidy reform in India, from booming downtown Mumbai to rural Rajasthan, for Nature Energy.
- Visited the first independent mobile telephone network in the Mexican Sierra Juárez for The Economist and NPR’s Here and Now.
- Goaded a Nicaraguan farmer into singing a ballad about the arrival of hydroelectricity for IEEE Spectrum and NPR’s Here and Now.
- Crossed the Indian Ocean aboard a Spanish oceanographic vessel for Nature.
- Ventured into the ash cloud of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland for Science, Discover and the Financial Times Weekend Magazine.
…and written a LinkedIn profile. You can reach me on mail@lucaslaursen.com.