Annalee Newitz

Eastern Region

Freelance Columnist at New Scientist

Freelance Writer at The New York Times

Science fiction & nonfiction * Pre-order now: Stories Are Weapons * Pod: https://t.co/kJFkLiM4hV * https://t.co/arNrfMyUED * https://t.co/ezdsNpQIfB

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Articles

Storm clouds threaten a promised AI revolution in weather prediction

1 week ago | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

“It’s an absolutely unbelievable scientific achievement,” says Andrew Charlton-Perez, talking to me by video from his office at the University of Reading, UK. His colleague, Simon Driscoll at the University of Cambridge, nods enthusiastically. “There are so many different applications and so many different uses for it.”No, they aren’t referring to quantum computing or nuclear fusion. They are talking about weather prediction.
Does science have a future in the US?

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

Over a decade ago, I sat in my living room with a bunch of nerds, tears pricking my eyes, as I saw the Curiosity rover’s first blurry selfie taken on Mars. The NASA livestream had just confirmed the wheeled robot was alive and well and ready to start doing science! We cheered and hugged and imagined a future where our solar system would be full of robotic explorers, gathering all the data we would need to safely send humans in their wake.
When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis

2 months ago | issues.org | Annalee Newitz

Rey Velasquez Sagcal Future Tense Fiction “It predicted 3cry had found a disease outbreak, and that took precedence over all other inputs.” This story was originally published in Slate in December 2018. It is republished here as a part of the Future Tense Fiction project, presented by Issues in collaboration with ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination.
How Moore's law led us to a flawed vision of the future

Mar 5, 2025 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

If you cast your mind back over the past two and a half decades, a bizarre fact emerges: everyone from business investors to teachers has been planning for a future ruled by communications technology. If the 20th century was the age of atomics, then the 21st is the age of the internet. Combining the power of radio, video and telephones, the internet is like a super-communication machine that completely upended our notion of what tomorrow would bring. Now, it seems…
How futurism took an abrupt right turn in the 20th century

Feb 5, 2025 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

A painting by Benedetta Cappa Marinetti, wife of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and a fellow futuristBenedetta Cappa Marinett Â© Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Rome/ AlamyThe word “futurism” was born in a car crash. At least, that is the story that poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti told back in 1909, when he coined the term in an editorial for French newspaper Le Figaro.
Ancient humans understood the future and the past pretty much as we do

Jan 9, 2025 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

A recent discovery in Cloggs cave, Australia, revealed something extraordinary about humanity’s relationship with time. Several metres into the limestone grotto, archaeologists working with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation found telltale signs of an ancient ritual: two ceremonial sticks covered in animal fat and highly specific burn marks. Here is the amazing part.
Myself & Other Animals review: Memoir offers new insights about Gerald Durrell's life

Jan 8, 2025 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

A recent discovery in Cloggs cave, Australia, revealed something extraordinary about humanity’s relationship with time. Several metres into the limestone grotto, archaeologists working with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation found telltale signs of an ancient ritual: two ceremonial sticks covered in animal fat and highly specific burn marks. Here is the amazing part.
The forgotten civil engineer with a vision we could all learn from

Nov 27, 2024 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

You have probably never heard of John “Bud” Benson Wilbur, but he is a low-key civil engineering legend. In the mid-20th century, he was chair of the civil and sanitary engineering department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He built some major bridges in Massachusetts and helped prototype the first wind power systems in Vermont.
Excerpts from The Believer: An Interview with Filmmaker and Musician Boots Riley

Nov 22, 2024 | mcsweeneys.net | Annalee Newitz

“I am trying to repel audiences and pull them in at the same time, so they gain a different kind of awareness of what they’re watching.”- - -Boots Riley’s art was inspired by his early experiences connecting with people as a labor organizer and party promoter. He doesn’t like the idea of being an authority or a superstar. He just wants to show people a good time and leave them with a better sense of how to rebel against capitalist greed and systemic racism.
How a ride in a friendly Waymo saw me fall for robotaxis

Oct 30, 2024 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

I took my first ride in a Waymo robotaxi last month, and now I’m obsessed. I have taken five autonomous car rides since, and even convinced two reluctant friends to do it too. Here’s how I went from a hater to a cautious friend of robot cars in five weeks. Waymo’s parent company Alphabet â€“ which also owns Google â€“ recently launched a pilot programme in San Francisco. When I was ready to hail one, I simply downloaded an app that closely resembles a rideshare app and pushed the call button.