We care about your data, and we'd like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.
Quanta Homepage
  • Physics
  • Mathematics
  • Biology
  • Computer Science
  • Topics
  • Archive
John Rennie

John Rennie

Deputy Editor

Twitter
Email

Latest Articles

Illustration of asteroids in space that are interconnected into a structure like that of the amino acid glycine.
explainers

Inside Ancient Asteroids, Gamma Rays Made Building Blocks of Life

By John Rennie +1 authors
Allison Parshall
January 4, 2023
Comment
Read Later

A new radiation-based mechanism adds to the ways that amino acids could have been made in space and brought to the young Earth.

2022 in Review

The Year in Biology

By John Rennie
December 21, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Momentum for new ideas in Alzheimer’s research joined advances in neuroscience, developmental biology and origin-of-life studies to make 2022 a memorable year of biological insights.

2021 in Review

The Year in Biology

By John Rennie
December 21, 2021
Comment
Read Later

The detailed understanding of brains and multicellular bodies reached new heights this year, while the genomes of the COVID-19 virus and various organisms yielded more surprises.

2020 in Review

The Year in Biology

By John Rennie
December 23, 2020
Comment
Read Later

While the study of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was the most urgent priority, biologists also learned more about how brains process information, how to define individuality and why sleep deprivation kills.

Illustration that depicts two types of simple molecules reacting in water on the early Earth.
origins of life

New Clues to Chemical Origins of Metabolism at Dawn of Life

By John Rennie
October 12, 2020
Comment
Read Later

The ingredients for reactions ancestral to metabolism could have formed very easily in the primordial soup, new work suggests.

Art for "Quanta’s Year in Biology (2019)"
2019 in Review

The Year in Biology

By John Rennie
December 23, 2019
Comment
Read Later

Researchers explored the zone between life and death, charted the mind’s system for arranging ideas and memories and learned how life’s complexity emerged.

Photo of lithium batteries
Abstractions blog

Nobel Awarded for Lithium-Ion Batteries and Portable Power

By Jordana Cepelewicz +1 authors
John Rennie
October 9, 2019
Comment
Read Later

John Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing lithium-ion batteries, “the hidden workhorses of the mobile era.”

Art for "Icefish Study Adds Another Color to the Story of Blood"
evolution

Icefish Study Adds Another Color to the Story of Blood

By John Rennie
April 22, 2019
Comment
Read Later

The rainbow of pigments that animals use for blood illustrates a central truth of evolution.

Abstractions blog

Gene Drives Work in Mice (if They’re Female)

By John Rennie +1 authors
Jordana Cepelewicz
January 23, 2019
Comment
Read Later

Biologists have demonstrated for the first time that a controversial genetic engineering technology works, with caveats, in mammals.


Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
Next

About the author

John Rennie joined Quanta Magazine as deputy editor in 2017. Previously, he spent 20 years at Scientific American, where he served as editor in chief between 1994 and 2009. He created and hosted Hacking the Planet, an original 2013 TV series for The Weather Channel, and has appeared frequently on television and radio on programs such as PBS’s Newshour, ABC’s World News Now, NPR’s Science Friday, the History Channel special Clash of the Cavemen and the Science Channel series Space’s Deepest Secrets. John has also been an adjunct professor of science writing at New York University since 2009. Most recently, he was editorial director of McGraw-Hill Education’s online science encyclopedia AccessScience.
Follow Quanta
Facebook
Facebook

Twitter
Twitter

Youtube
YouTube

Instagram
Instagram

RSS
RSS

Newsletter

All Time

Most Read From John Rennie

This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
The Quanta Newsletter

Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox

Recent newsletters
Quanta Homepage
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Instagram

  • About Quanta
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Simons Foundation
All Rights Reserved © 2023