Shake and Bake
California Magazine asked me to contribute a feature on the potential ramifications of a major Bay Area earthquake to its apocalypse-themed issue in 2014. During a stint at the US Geological Survey, I received a crash course in the seismology of this region and how pretty much all of us here lack a clear conception of what…
The Stories Rocks Tell
Winter 2020. As parts of its East Bay Parks series, Bay Nature magazine published my story on the geology of Las Trampas, a wilderness preserve full of shallow marine fossils.
Intelligence, Redesigned
The books of people like Roy A. Gallant taught a generation of students that science could also be art. But research progresses and artistic methods evolve. In 2009, designer Carl DeTorres and I worked together to give a few of these mid-century classics a 21st-century update. Available as a PDF.
What’s Inside J-B Weld?
Wired asked me to look into the science of J-B Weld as part of its What’s Inside series on the chemistry behind iconic, everyday products. Epoxy fun for everyone! (Photo by the Voorhes)
Fall of the Wild
2008. A controversy roils Point Reyes, pitting wilderness preservationists against sustainable agriculture supporters. And it revolves around a century-old oyster farm. A look at a day’s work at the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm, on the edge of Drakes Estero. [Click images to view larger]
Boom Times
2007. Ahead of the Beijing Summer Olympics, China is portrayed as a land of glittering “instant” cities. But the economy that is driving the country’s growth is powered by coal. A look behind the curtain in Shanxi Provice, China’s primary coal-producing region. Winner of the 2008 Susan Meiselas Award for Excellence in Photojournalism. China’s economic…
Sailing an Oil Tanker
2006. The dream of sustainability has persisted for decades but the reality is much harder to achieve. Back in 2006, when the NYT Magazine was producing an annual Ideas section, I contributed a few paragraphs on one company’s pitch to use sails on large ships to cut down on fuel-use and emissions.
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Timothy Lesle 