Christie Aschwanden is an independent journalist, essayist and science nerd. She blogs about science at LastWordOnNothing.com and has written for more than 50 publications, including Smithsonian, the New York Times, Slate, Men's Journal, Mother Jones, NPR.org, and O, the Oprah magazine. She was a National Magazine Award finalist in 2011 and a Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting fellow in 2007. She lives on a small farm in rural western Colorado with her winemaker husband and raises heritage poultry in her spare time. Find her online at christieaschwanden.com.