Amber Dance
Science Writer
Amber Dance is a freelance science writer based in Southern California. She is the ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) reporter for the Alzheimer Research Forum, and contributes to The Scientist and Nature journals. She has written about topics ranging from record-breaking rocks to bizarre new ant species.
Selected Clips
Why stem-cell therapy could start with the eyes.
Nature Reports Stem Cells, June 11, 2009
Biologists and physicists are seeing the mind as never before. Amber Dance explores how sliced-up brains and X-rays could help scientists understand diseases like Parkinson’s.
Sidebar: 21st century look at a B.C. book
Science Notes, August 2008
More creatures live in soil than any other environment on Earth. But what are they all doing there? Amber Dance reports on the world’s widest biodiversity.
Nature, October 9, 2008
The 60-year-old Framingham Heart Study has revolutionized the understanding of cardiovascular disease. Its new goal? Predicting attacks.
Los Angeles Times, May 18, 2009
Getting great results can be difficult, especially if the materials you work with decide to fight back. Amber Dance investigates some of the unappreciated risks of being at the bench.
Nature Jobs, April 2, 2009
Hush now, Tolkien fans and grunting Klingonists. More newly created tongues are getting their moment.
Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2007
A biotech start-up sees stem cells as targets, not transplants.
Nature Reports Stem Cells, December 30, 2008
Anesthesia is meant to induce a temporary fog, lifting as soon as the drugs wear off. But for some, the effects linger, with delirium or confusion for days or weeks following surgery.
Alzheimer Research Forum, July 31, 2009
Sometimes everyday objects make the best teaching tools in the classroom.
HHMI Bulletin, November 2009
Life is returning to hills blackened by September’s massive wildfire at Henry W. Coe State Park.
San Jose Mercury News, April 19, 2008
Amateur scientists make important contributions in a number of fields, from astronomy to ornithology. But very few have the background needed to succeed in high-energy physics.
symmetry magazine, March/April 2008
A 15-million-year-old whale, discovered in 1987 by a University of California-Santa Cruz graduate student, has finally yielded its secrets to paleontologists.
Santa Cruz Sentinel, January 24, 2008
A genome study in monarch butterflies pulls out a set of 40 key players in long distance migration.
The-Scientist.com, April 8, 2009
Fifty years after atomic bombs rocked Bikini Atoll and pulverized its coral reef, the lagoon again boasts a flourishing coral community.
mongabay.com, May 27, 2008
The simple act of opening an e-mail or saying “I love you” is out of reach for many people paralyzed by accident or disease, but 40 of them could get the chance to try out brain-computer interfaces.
Alzheimer Research Forum, June 22, 2009
SJSU physics professor helps animators make movies and games more lifelike.
San Jose Mercury News, May 21, 2008
