
Douglas Fox is a freelance journalist who writes about life, earth and Antarctic sciences. His stories have appeared in Scientific American, National Geographic, Esquire, Virginia Quarterly Review, High Country News, Discover, Nature and The Best American Science and Nature Writing. His stories have garnered awards from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (2011), the National Association of Science Writers (2013), the American Geophysical Union (2015 and 2018) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2009 and 2017). Doug is a contributing author to The Science Writers’ Handbook (Da Capo, 2013).

All Stories by Douglas Fox
- Climate
Uplifting Antarctic shores point to accelerating loss of glaciers
It appears the Pine Island and “Doomsday” Thwaites glaciers are losing ice — and shrinking faster — than at any time in the past 5,500 years.
- Earth
A bold plan to save the planet turns carbon dioxide into stone
Scientists hope that capturing carbon dioxide this way will limit both further warming of our planet and an escalation of extreme weather events.
- Life
Living mysteries: Why teeny-weeny tardigrades are tough as nails
Tardigrades often live in cool, damp moss. Their cushy life has somehow prepared them to survive the lethal radiation of outer space.
- Earth
Strange lake belches flammable gas in the high Arctic
Lake Esieh is bubbling out surprising amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas. Scientists wonder if it’s one of a kind, or a warning of more to come.
- Climate
The big melt: Earth’s ice sheets are under attack
Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice 3 to 6 times as quickly as in the 1980s. And by 2100, the rate of loss could increase another 10-fold.
- Earth
Why Antarctica and the Arctic are polar opposites
Antarctica and the Arctic are shaped by different forces. And in the face of global warming, these cold climates are morphing in different ways.
- Earth
Climate change cripples planet’s glaciers and ice caps
The world’s glaciers and ice caps hold far less ice than Antarctica and Greenland. But as they shrink, they’re impacting sea levels and water supplies.
- Animals
Living Mysteries: This complex beast lurks on lobster whiskers
A tiny animal discovered on a lobster’s whiskers shows that the smallest animals on Earth can be surprisingly complex.
- Animals
Living Mysteries: Meet Earth’s simplest animal
Trichoplax is the simplest animal on Earth. It has no mouth, stomach or brain. Yet it can teach how these and other organs evolved.
- Planets
A trail of cosmic dust may lead to alien life
Liquid water can be found even in the cold reaches of the outer solar system. Some hidden oceans may harbor warm oases cozy for living things.
- Earth
How ancient African fish feed today’s Amazon
Many of the world’s lushest tropical forests would starve if winds didn’t bring them nutrient-rich dust from across an ocean.
- Earth
Dust creates deserts in the sky
Vast rivers of dust flow through the sky. This invisible force shapes our world in profound ways. And scientists are finally homing in on a major source.