My Favorite (Free) Science Writing of 2025

The year is almost coming to a close, and it's time to look back. I will do another post about my own writing in 2025, my best year by a lot of metrics since I started science writing. But first, I wanted to bring together some of my favorite work by other science writers from around the web. I keep a spreadsheet of pieces I read and like throughout the year, and these are some of the best. To add to the degree of difficulty for myself as a reviewer, I decided to pick only one for each publication, and only include those available to read free online.

Watching the Oregon Ash Vanish by Jaclyn Moyer, High Country News
(This one was especially memorable for me, because in addition to being a great piece in its own right, it stuck out to me as the best reporting on a widely reported issue. I wrote a piece about Oregon ash and ash borers this year too, but this one was just, to me, far and away the best reporting on the subject.)

Blood-Powered Toes Give ‘Skydiving’ Salamanders a Boost by Michelle Cassidy, Atlas Obscura

Scent Makes a Place by Katy Kelleher, Nautilus

How a Humble Weed Became a Superstar of Biology by Rachel Ehrenberg, Knowable

This Native-Run Raptor Center Is Safeguarding Sacred Birds, Feathers, and Practices by Rachel Nuwer, Audubon

Marching Mangroves Threaten This Delicate Florida Ecosystem by Jennifer Reed, Sierra

The History of America Flows Through the Hudson River, and the Country’s Aquatic Superhighway Is on the Rebound by Rebecca Taylor, Smithsonian

Unmasking the Sea Star Killer by Craig Welch, bioGraphic
(Again, this was a story reported in a lot of different places. But this deep inside look at the lab that made the discovery was by far my favorite.)

Bison, Not Prison: Activists Buy a Prison Site to Rewild the Land by Katie Myers, Grist

Cape Vulture Conservation Offers Hope, but Challenges Remain by Sean Mowbray, Mongabay
(Come on, obviously there was going to be one vulture story in here.)

Elk Are Vital Fuel In Greater Yellowstone’s Biological Power Grid by Todd Wilkinson, Yellowstonian

A New, Chemical View of Ecosystems by Molly Herring, Quanta