Charles Piller

That wasn't my personality. And my grandfather was a quite accomplished psychology researcher back in the day. And he, in a way, inspired me. But then I realized I had to be honest and true to my own interests and talents. And so... What happened was out of college, I went ahead and experimented with freelance writing.

And in fact, one of the first big articles I ever did was something that really sparked my interest in investigative reporting. It had to do with a group of workers in Utah who were working in a lead smelting plant. So this is a processing plant for lead. And this group of workers were exposed to terrible toxic fumes. And the company that they were working for had been covering it up.

And in fact, one of the first big articles I ever did was something that really sparked my interest in investigative reporting. It had to do with a group of workers in Utah who were working in a lead smelting plant. So this is a processing plant for lead. And this group of workers were exposed to terrible toxic fumes. And the company that they were working for had been covering it up.

And what I was able to do was to not just learn about some of the details of that toxic exposure, but to talk to some of the individual workers who were exposed. And this was quite a few years ago. There was no internet. And it was a bit of a challenge. And I used kind of a time-honored device.

And what I was able to do was to not just learn about some of the details of that toxic exposure, but to talk to some of the individual workers who were exposed. And this was quite a few years ago. There was no internet. And it was a bit of a challenge. And I used kind of a time-honored device.

old school method, which was to call from a small town in Utah, where it's not that everybody knows everybody, but people are deeply connected to each other. And I made some random calls, looked up people in the phone book and started calling people and said, do you know someone who works at this plant?

old school method, which was to call from a small town in Utah, where it's not that everybody knows everybody, but people are deeply connected to each other. And I made some random calls, looked up people in the phone book and started calling people and said, do you know someone who works at this plant?

And within about three calls, I had some key sources to understand the depth of the problem there. And that gave me the sort of the bug, if you will, to try to do more in investigative reporting. I worked for newspapers for a while, small, very small newspapers, and then moved on to, uh, magazines.

And within about three calls, I had some key sources to understand the depth of the problem there. And that gave me the sort of the bug, if you will, to try to do more in investigative reporting. I worked for newspapers for a while, small, very small newspapers, and then moved on to, uh, magazines.

And eventually, um, I broke through to a big newspaper job at the Los Angeles times where I did, uh, both, uh,

And eventually, um, I broke through to a big newspaper job at the Los Angeles times where I did, uh, both, uh,

reporting on news subjects and also a lot of investigative reporting and really had the benefit of working with world-class colleagues and editors who were able to help me hone my skills and be even more ambitious and try to do things that required the teams that a big news organization can provide. And that kind of got me on my way, and I have never looked back from there.

reporting on news subjects and also a lot of investigative reporting and really had the benefit of working with world-class colleagues and editors who were able to help me hone my skills and be even more ambitious and try to do things that required the teams that a big news organization can provide. And that kind of got me on my way, and I have never looked back from there.

Sure. Happy to do it. So Science Magazine is a scholarly journal, which is one of the hundreds, thousands of academic journals out there in the world that publish these kind of honestly, dense scientific articles with lots of references and a lot of technical terms. But it also has a journalism side of the magazine. So there's a scholarly article side and the journalism side.

Sure. Happy to do it. So Science Magazine is a scholarly journal, which is one of the hundreds, thousands of academic journals out there in the world that publish these kind of honestly, dense scientific articles with lots of references and a lot of technical terms. But it also has a journalism side of the magazine. So there's a scholarly article side and the journalism side.

And of course, I work for the journalism side of the book. And science is one of the most important and prestigious scholarly journals in the world. And so the benefit as a journalist of working there on scientific subjects is that my stories have the opportunity to have a lot of influence because the journal is so well respected, so well edited, and there's a trust factor.

And of course, I work for the journalism side of the book. And science is one of the most important and prestigious scholarly journals in the world. And so the benefit as a journalist of working there on scientific subjects is that my stories have the opportunity to have a lot of influence because the journal is so well respected, so well edited, and there's a trust factor.

The trust factor is that we know that if it's coming from this source, it's something that we know has been deeply researched and deeply reviewed by qualified people. And that, I think, is a leg up when you're talking about technical subjects that might challenge conventional wisdom about science, which is a lot of what I write about.

The trust factor is that we know that if it's coming from this source, it's something that we know has been deeply researched and deeply reviewed by qualified people. And that, I think, is a leg up when you're talking about technical subjects that might challenge conventional wisdom about science, which is a lot of what I write about.

Yes. Yeah, that's a pretty accurate representation of it, Dylan. I would just say that the topics of Science Magazine are extremely broad, everything from astrophysics to, as you say, cellular biology or genetics. And the journalism side is equally broad. Now, we have news reporters who cover events within the scientific community, new developments, important studies that might break new ground.