Rowan Jacobsen

Author of nine books. Recent pieces in Outside, Smithsonian, Scientific American, others. Occasional stomper of sacred grapes.

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Articles

Can Sunlight Cure Disease?

1 month ago | ourcommunitynow.com | Rowan Jacobsen

Share E very morning Kathy Reagan Young steps out of the shower in her Virginia Beach home, towels off, dons a pair of protective goggles and stands nine inches from a light box the size of a small space heater. Young presses a button, and the box’s bulbs begin to glow a ghostly purple. She briefly bathes her torso in the ultraviolet rays coming from the bulbs, four minutes per side. Then she goes about her day. That Young can have an ordinary day is remarkable.
Surprising Ways That Sunlight Might Heal Autoimmune Diseases

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Rowan Jacobsen

Every morning Kathy Reagan Young steps out of the shower in her Virginia Beach home, towels off, dons a pair of protective goggles and stands nine inches from a light box the size of a small space heater. Young presses a button, and the box’s bulbs begin to glow a ghostly purple. She briefly bathes her torso in the ultraviolet rays coming from the bulbs, four minutes per side. Then she goes about her day. That Young can have an ordinary day is remarkable.
They Tried to Silence Her COVID Origins Theory. Now Even the CIA Agrees with Cambridge's Alina Chan.

Mar 12, 2025 | bostonmagazine.com | Rowan Jacobsen

Q&A In 2020, the Broad Institute scientist ignited a controversy by suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a Chinese lab. Five years later, it sure looks like she was right. Five years ago this month, the SARS-CoV-2 virus shut down the world and changed it forever.
Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of Cacao’s Soul

Feb 25, 2025 | foreignaffairs.com | Rowan Jacobsen |Richard Feinberg

As with wine and coffee, chocolate—once a homogeneous commodity—has become a highly differentiated delicacy. The chocolate cognoscenti now taste delicate aromas and obscure flavors and compete to identify the terroir, or natural environment, where a particular batch of cocoa beans originated. Jacobsen, a science journalist and travel writer, profiles modern-day Indiana Joneses who trek deep into the rainforests of Mesoamerica and the Upper Amazon in search of shade-grown wild cacao trees.
The French Connection | Maine's French-Inspired Scallop Revival

Nov 19, 2024 | newengland.com | Rowan Jacobsen

The town of Paimpol lies 3,000 miles east of Maine along France’s northern coast, which makes it an unlikely place to glimpse the future of Maine seafood, but one look at the craggy waterfront, stone houses, and fishing boats rocking in the cold Atlantic and we get it. I’m tagging along with a delegation of eight Mainers who would like to make the scallop Maine’s Next Big Thing, so we’ve come to the region that wrote the playbook.
Consider the Oyster: Oyster Tableware to Set the Scene

Oct 28, 2024 | tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva |Rowan Jacobsen |Stephen Treffinger

In the past, conventional wisdom maintained one should only eat oysters in months ending with “r”, but refrigeration and other factors have made these luscious mollusks viable year-round. On a recent trip to Venice, the Adriatic, and Greece with Viking, I had the opportunity to sample some world-class oysters in Croatia, off the coast of a town named Ston, a little less than an hour’s drive from Dubrovnik.
Sweet and Sacred: The Scrumptious, Soul-Stirring Story of Chocolate

Oct 8, 2024 | nextbigideaclub.com | Evan Friss |Brandon Keim |Rowan Jacobsen

Rowan Jacobsen is a food writer and explorer. Over the past few years, he has been journeying to the Amazon and Central America, chasing chocolate back to its sacred cultural roots. He has written eight books, including the James Beard Award-winning A Geography of Oysters and Truffle Hound. He has written for the New York Times, Harper’s, Outside, Food & Wine, Forbes, Mother Jones, Scientific American, Smithsonian, Vice, and other publications.
The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World

Aug 5, 2024 | publishersweekly.com | Russell Cobb |Rowan Jacobsen |Deborah Levy |Déborah Levy |Dubravka Ugresic

Vendors can use your data to provide services. Declining a vendor can stop them from using the data you shared. Exponential Interactive, Inc d/b/a VDX.tvCookie duration: 90 (days). Data collected and processed: Device identifiers, Non-precise location data, Browsing and interaction data, Users’ profiles, Privacy choices, Probabilistic identifiers, IP addressesmoreCookie duration resets each session. View details | Storage details | Privacy policylaunchConsentRoq.ad GmbHCookie duration: 365 (days).
Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over Ameria

Aug 1, 2024 | publishersweekly.com | Talia Lavin |Russell Cobb |Rowan Jacobsen |Deborah Levy |Déborah Levy

Talia Lavin. Legacy Lit, $30 (288p) ISBN 978-0-306-82919-2The Christian far right is eviscerating children’s welfare in order to raise up an army of “soldiers... instructed in a totalistic environment,” according to this eye-opening account. Journalist Lavin (Culture Warlords) begins by recapping the past several decades of the Christian nationalist movement in America in an attempt to explain mainline Christianity’s embrace of Donald Trump’s authoritarianism.
The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World

Aug 1, 2024 | publishersweekly.com | Nathan Robinson |Russell Cobb |Rowan Jacobsen |Deborah Levy |Déborah Levy

The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the WorldSafeguarding democracy, the long-standing stated aim of American foreign policy, is actually cover for America’s desire to control other countries’ resources, according to this blistering polemic.