Eleanor Parsons

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Eleanor Parsons

Winter is a time for me to wrap up in blankets and read. Among the books I have enjoyed so far is Orbital by Samantha Harvey, which won the 2024 Booker prize. It follows six astronauts on the International Space Station over the course of an Earth day (16 orbits of our planet) and is a poetic meditation on everyday life on board, punctuated by moments of awe. The main character is our beautiful, fragile planet, and I loved getting a different perspective on my home.

Jan 8, 2025 | newscientist.com | Eleanor Parsons

These stunning dinosaur tracks are just some of around 200 footprints uncovered in Oxfordshire, UK. Five different sets of prints have been excavated at Dewars Farm limestone quarry, including the two shown crossing in the main image. These, along with two other sets, belonged to sauropods, possibly from the genus, which could be up to 18 metres long. The track running from bottom right to top left is from the larger of the two herbivores, with each footprint being 90 centimetres long.

Aug 28, 2024 | newscientist.com | Eleanor Parsons

I have just read Systemic: How racism is making us ill by Layal Liverpool. A thoroughly researched, beautifully written book, it weaves together personal experience and interviews with devastating statistics. Liverpool, who used to work at , methodically lays out how racism can harm people’s health, from the damage that the stress of experiencing it does to the body to how training images of skin conditions are disproportionately of pale skin types.

Jul 24, 2024 | newscientist.com | Eleanor Parsons

The message of Nine Minds is that there is no such thing as a single neurodiverse experienceVincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports/ReutersNine MindsDaniel Tammet (Wellcome Collection)How do you see inside the mind of someone else, how they really experience the world? Often, our mental shortcuts let us assume that everyone encounters it as we do. But they don’t: we all experience the world differently. And that is where reading or listening to other people’s stories helps.

Apr 2, 2024 | newscientist.com | Eleanor Parsons

WHEN I was asked to write this article, my heart started beating faster, my hands started shaking and my thoughts went into overdrive coming up with what felt like hundreds of objectively sensible reasons why I couldn’t do it. I could tell you that as chief subeditor at New Scientist I don’t often get a chance to write. But the truth is I rarely write because I am very anxious about it. What if the people I contact don’t respond? What if I write something stupid? What if I am stupid?