Jennifer "Jef" Akst got her master's degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. She has been with The Scientist magazine for 3 years, where she now serves as the News Editor, finding and editing news and opinion stories for the publication’s website.