Brendan Borrell

writer

Guest

Contact: Website

I've tracked down the maple syrup thieves in Quebec, unearthed the truth behind an 840-pound emerald from Brazil, and narrowly escaped from the world's deadliest bird in Australia.

My work has been published in Scientific American, Smithsonian, Slate, Bloomberg Businessweek and The New York Times. For a couple years, I was a correspondent for The Scientist, and I've worked as a staff reporter for Nature, Scientific American, and theOregonian. In 2013, I was an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow and traveled to Uganda to investigate an herbal cure for malaria and the strange plague wrought by false tooth disease. My international reporting has also been funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and the Mongabay Special Reporting Initiative.

Brendan Borrell on KCRW

Vaccines commonly contain adjuvants — substances that help fire up people’s immune systems.

COVID vaccine: Can immunity-boosting compounds from a Chilean tree help?

Vaccines commonly contain adjuvants — substances that help fire up people’s immune systems.

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Meteorites can be quite valuable – hot commodities. Where there’s a commodity, there’s a trade and someone trying to get in on the action.

Hunting meteorites lands a man in prison

Meteorites can be quite valuable – hot commodities. Where there’s a commodity, there’s a trade and someone trying to get in on the action.

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Weighing in at a staggering 840 pounds, the Brazilian Bahia Emerald is thought to be the biggest uncut emerald in the world.

An Epic Emerald Fight

Weighing in at a staggering 840 pounds, the Brazilian Bahia Emerald is thought to be the biggest uncut emerald in the world.

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

More from KCRW

Local atheist volunteers started taking down illegally posted religious signs in public places less than a year ago. Now their plunders and crowdsourced maps are gaining traction.

from Greater LA

Southern California bird rescues are dealing with an influx of sick or injured brown pelicans. No one knows why, but many birds appear to be starving.

from Greater LA

It’s the season for graduations, summer vacations, and possibly more time in air-conditioned spaces. How should people approach the pandemic now?

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Parents and teachers describe changed relationships with school as the 2021-2022 academic year ends.

from Greater LA

KCRW discusses the recent mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, gun control politics, the status of the war in Ukraine, and whether the U.S. should change its policy toward Asia.

from Left, Right & Center

Ageism - the negative attitudes directed toward older persons simply because of their age – can impact an older person’s health.

from Second Opinion

Panelists discuss what might have motivated the recent shooting in Buffalo, NY. They also analyze “the Great Replacement Theory” and Trump’s hold on the GOP.

from Left, Right & Center

It could take two months until grocery shelves are restocked with infant formula. A pediatrician advises parents on how to feed their little ones in the meantime.

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Writer and lecturer Susan Cain explores the evolutionary reasons behind sadness in our lives and how accepting sorrow can lead to greater emotional resilience and creativity.

from Life Examined