There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings. ~ Rachel Carson

Science & education writing

Award-winning science curricula, a book endorsement from Dr. Jane Goodall, and words from her longtime editor at the Joint Fire Science Program, who said, "Rachel Clark is one of the top two writers I've worked with in my career..."

These honors spotlight Rachel's rare capacity to translate technical sciences and to bring the earth & life sciences alive for everyone. A veteran science writer, Rachel is also a biologist with an advanced degree and peer-reviewed publications. Her writing–web, print & radio–appears in national outlets, including at Newsweek, in her early reporting on COVID-19, and Mothering Nature, a reported blog she founded at Psychology Today. She was an anchor science writer for the US Joint Fire Science Program for a decade, worked as a technical writer at a CRO building clinical and non-clinical reports, and created science curricula for national textbook companies, university programs, and science education sites. Rachel's had the privilege of interviewing scientists and scholars from a variety of disciplines. Her first book, a YA #ecolit novel, The Blackfish Prophecy, was endorsed by Dr. Jane Goodall and Bill McKibben.

From 2022 through 2024, Rachel served on the Science Communications Team at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR). She’s proud to have served on the team that helped protect and save lives across the COVID-19 pandemic, and to help extend those lessons learned into the future.

National Outlets

25 Most Common Questions About Covid Answered, Newsweek.
When Can I Get Vaccinated? 30 Common Questions About COVID-19, Answered. Newsweek. With Stacker News and Anna Funk, Stacker News.
50 community resources to support Americans financially impacted by COVID-19. Stacker.
30 ecosystems at risk and the endangered species that live there. Stacker.
50 animals whose homes are threatened by climate change. Stacker.
From honeybees to honey possums: 20 facts about pollination. Stacker.
Mothering Nature. Founder, reported blog. Invited by the editors of Psychology Today.
An Orca in Grief: Tahlequah’s Call to Arms. The Revelator, a publication of The Center for Biological Diversity.
A Declaration of Interdependence. The Revelator, a publication of The Center for Biological Diversity.
Eight Ways to Stop Being Constantly Worried About Climate Change. Mom.me.
Twelve Fish You Should Never Eat—And What To Eat Instead (updated as co-author). Rodale's Organic Life.
Adapt and Die: Beetles that changed their diet by choice suffered in the end. Nature News Online.
Wild Orcas May Not Survive Climate Change. Salon.
15 Groovy Science Videos. Mental Floss.
The One Reason I Almost Didn’t Have Kids. Mom.me.
Go Ahead, Eat Those Weeds. Print, 2016 Collector’s Edition. Farmer's Almanac.
I Took My Kids To the REAL SeaWorld…And This is What We Learned. The Dodo.
All The Ways to Learn About Orcas Without Buying A Ticket. The Dodo.
How One Chimp Found Sanctuary In Her Birthday. The Dodo.

Joint Fire Science Program

Glencoe McGraw-Hill

Contributing author. Middle school science textbook, 2012. Ecology chapter. Additional writing for numerous other textbooks. Proprietary.

McDougal Littell Inc. (a Houghton Mifflin Company)

Many assigned feature articles, text, and related support materials for elementary and middle school science textbooks. Proprietary.

MathSoft, Inc.

Award-winning science curricula and dozens of science & environment news briefs (No longer available online). Examples include:

Of Mice and Elephants: Predicting Population Growth [featured as a “SciLink” by The National Science Teachers Association]. This lesson helps students see how different vital rates affect population growth rate.
Global Warming: Detecting The Truth [featured in Lightspan’s StudyWeb® as one of the best educational resources on the Web]. Eight substantial lessons help students explore the scientific evidence for climate change, think critically, and reach their own conclusions.
You Be the Predator: Simulating Natural Selection. This interactive lesson allows students to “select” parents who contribute to future generations by removing “prey” from a population.
Dozens of science and environment news briefs. Titles include CO2: Culprit or Conspirator?, Birds, Caterpillars, and Climate, Missing Heat Found in World Oceans, Towers Cause Bird Deaths, Particulates Are Bad News, Red Colobus Declared Extinct, Saving Salmon, State of the Bay Remains Grim, Agents of (Evolutionary) Change, Wild Dolphins ‘Whistle Match,’ Microbes Snack on Shale, and Does Dietary Fat Deserve its Bad Rap?

Cornell University Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors

**Earth & Sky Radio and Finger Lakes Productions Radio**

Dozens of short format radio shows featuring diverse topics in science, space, and the environment for audiences around the world. Titles include: Rachel Carson, Ancient Fire, Ozone Recovery, Kirtland’s Warbler, Wiring the Deep Sea, Paving the Way to Global Warming?, What Salmon Need, Earth’s ‘Missing Warming,’ Beetle Alert, Moth Chemistry, Mercury Mystery, Urban Forests, and Other Greenhouse Gases, (Earth & Sky) and Seaweed Scarves, Coral Diseases, Enzyme Indicator, Bioprospecting, Count Down to 6 Billion, Pesticides in Produce, Monarch Migration, Elephant Sound, and Caribou on the Move (FLP).

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Clark, R. (1997) Dimorphic Males Display Alternative Reproductive Strategies in the Marine Amphipod Jassa marmorata. Ethology 103, Vol. 7, pp. 531-553.

Clark, R. and C.C. Caudill. (2001) Females of the Marine Amphipod Jassa marmorata mate multiple times with the same or different males. Marine and Freshwater Behavior and Physiology. Vol. 34, pp. 131-138.

Phi Beta Kappa Award of Excellence: Environmental Predictability and Species Diversity: Are There Other Factors Involved? (unpublished college manuscript)

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About the Featured Photo: Doug fir-cedar forest in Moran State Park. Orcas Island, Washington.

Science writing