Skip to content

Tom Chivers

Freelance science writer. My first book, "The AI Does Not Hate You: The Rationalists and Their Quest to Save the World", is out in 2019.

  • About me

Author: Tom Chivers

I'm a freelance science writer. Until January 2018 I was science writer for BuzzFeed UK; before that, I was a comment and features writer for the Telegraph, having joined in 2007. My first book, "The AI Does Not Hate You: Superintelligence, Rationality and the Race to Save the World", for Weidenfeld & Nicolson, is due to be published June 2019. Since leaving BuzzFeed, I've written for the Times, the Guardian, New Scientist, the i, the Telegraph, UnHerd, politics.co.uk, and elsewhere.

THC rising: Failed war on drugs sees cannabis grow out of control – politics.co.uk

28/02/201823/10/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment

the-government-has-no-approach-it-has-no-goal.21400194It is tempting to describe the government’s approach to cannabis as a spectacular failure. But that would be untrue: the government’s approach cannot fail, because the government has no approach. It has no goals, it has no aims, it has no policies.

Read the rest here.

A Controversial Therapy For ME Has Led To Claims Of Death Threats, Harassment, And Pseudoscience – BuzzFeed UK

29/12/201721/03/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment

December 2017:

A recent scientific trial has led to acrimonious debates over chronic fatigue syndrome, aka ME, and boosted interest in a secretive therapy that some call a “cult” and others call a “miracle”.

Read the rest here.

The Spaceship That Took Some Of The Greatest Images Of The Solar System Has Died – BuzzFeed UK

15/09/201711/04/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment
Screen Shot 2018-04-11 at 13.22.35.png
NASA

After 20 years in space, some amazing science, and some unbelievable images, the Cassini-Huygens mission finally came to an end. We asked two of the scientists who worked on it what the mission meant to them.

Read more here.

How Online Filter Bubbles Are Making Parents Of Autistic Children Targets For Fake “Cures” – BuzzFeed UK

17/08/201721/03/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment

August 2017:

Analysis by BuzzFeed News found that more than half of the most-shared scientific stories about autism published in the last five years promote unevidenced or disproven treatments, or purported causes.

Read the rest here.

These People Are Trying To Fix A Huge Problem In Science – BuzzFeed UK

29/07/201711/04/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment
Screen Shot 2018-04-11 at 13.14.46.png
Sian Butcher / BuzzFeed

The results of too many scientific studies aren’t standing up to scrutiny. Here’s how a group of scientists think they can (partly) change that.

Read more here.

This UKIP Guy Is Selling “Bleach” As A Health Supplement – BuzzFeed UK

13/04/201711/04/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment
Screen Shot 2018-04-11 at 13.17.46
UKIP / Phil Han / BuzzFeed

Andrew Haigh, appointed UKIP’s national organiser for Wales in 2015, has a website selling “Aerobic Oxygen” for consumption – but tests reveal it to be a powerful chemical similar to oven cleaner.

Read more here.

Being A Father Makes Me Empathetic, But Does It Make Me Right?

22/09/201610/07/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment
Rebecca Hendin/BuzzFeed

When photos of suffering children are splashed across my timeline, I see my own son reflected in them. But that doesn’t mean I deserve more say in how, and whether, those photos are shared.

Read more here.

How The Cures For Cancer Snuck Up On Us – BuzzFeed UK

24/07/201611/04/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2018-04-11 at 14.38.46New research is revealing cancer to be a complex, evolving disease – but scientists are beginning to cautiously talk about “curing” some instances.

Read more here.

Terry Pratchett interview: a fantasy writer facing reality – Telegraph

27/08/201521/03/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment
terry-pratchett-po_2711025b
Photo: Alastair Levy for the Telegraph

The much-loved author of the Discworld series has died aged 66. In this interview from 2013, he showed that he didn’t shy away from life’s ‘depressing stuff’.

Read the rest here.

Are ‘grammar Nazis’ ruining the English language? – Telegraph

19/03/201412/04/2018 ~ Tom Chivers ~ Leave a comment

grammar-pic-gramma_2850082b.jpgSplit infinitives make them shudder and they’d never end a sentence with a preposition. But linguist Geoffrey Pullum has a message for all grammar pedants: you’re wrong.

Read more here.

Posts navigation

Older posts
Newer posts

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
Blog at WordPress.com.
Tom Chivers
Blog at WordPress.com.
Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×