Ellen spent years as a contributing editor and correspondent for The Atlantic, where she wrote on various issues of the day that intrigued, mattered or simply caught her fancy.  Her reporting, essays and reviews have also appeared in The Smithsonian, Scientific American, the New York Times Magazine, Science Magazine, Audubon, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The L.A. Times, the Boston Globe, among other outlets.  A Professor Emerita of Science Journalism at Boston University, her research focuses on the intersection of science, culture and society.  She has two grown daughters, two sprouting grandchildren, and a husband who offers sound life advice and the occasional tech support. She lives part of the year in Somerville, Massachusetts, one the highest density cities in the nation, and the other part in the barely populated coastal town of Bremen, Maine.