Laura Baisas

Staff writer

Laura is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology, and exploring how science influences daily life. Laura is a proud former resident of the New Jersey shore, a competitive swimmer, and a fierce defender of the Oxford comma.

Highlights

Former Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Ocean Science Journalism Fellow
Has reported on the offshore wind farms coming to the northeastern United States, climate epidemiology, space weather, and more.
Laura has completed numerous open-water marathon swims, including from the Tappan Zee Bridge to the George Washington Bridge (16 miles), from Battery Park, NY to Sandy Hook, NJ (17 miles), and around Manhattan Island (28.5 miles).

Experience

Laura joined Popular Science as a staff science news writer in 2022. She spent a decade at NBC News, first as a videotape engineer and eventually a producer/writer. Her freelance work has appeared in Inside Climate News and Hell Gate.

Education

Laura has a Master’s degree in science journalism from Columbia Journalism School. She received her BA at Marquette University, focusing on broadcast journalism and theology.

Favorite weird science fact

The Hawaiian blue rice coral produces a protein that not only gives it a beautiful deep blue color, but acts as a sunscreen. It’s thought that the natural sunscreen filters out harmful UV radiation that may be detrimental to coral reproduction.