Alexander McNamara

Alexander McNamara

Editor-in-Chief, Live Science

Alexander McNamara is the Editor-in-Chief at Live Science, and has more than 15 years’ experience in publishing at digital titles. More than half of this time has been dedicated to bringing the wonders of science and technology to a wider audience through editor roles at New Scientist, BBC Science Focus, and now Live Science, developing new podcasts, newsletters and ground-breaking features along the way. In 2024 he was shortlisted for Editor of the Year at the Association of British Science Writers awards for his work at Live Science.

Before dedicating himself to science, he covered a diverse spectrum of content, ranging from women’s lifestyle, travel, sport and politics, at Hearst and Microsoft. He holds a degree in economics from the University of Sheffield, and before embarking in a career in journalism had a brief stint as an English teacher in the Czech Republic. In his spare time, you can find him with his head buried in the latest science books or tinkering with cool gadgets. (alexander.mcnamara@futurenet.com)

Latest articles by Alexander McNamara

Timothy Morton speaks on stage

Humans have long been a 'geophysical force on a planetary scale,' says philosopher Timothy Morton. That's neither good nor bad.

By Alexander McNamara published

Interview The person dubbed "the prophet of the Anthropocene" talks to Live Science about how they got this title, what the Anthropocene means, and why we need to stop trying to define when it started and accept that we've been in it for millennia.

Interview
A composite image. On the left, a close-up of excavated teeth and a jawbone. On the right, a purple smiley face shape on Mars.

Science news this week: 'Thorin' the last Neanderthal and a 'smiley face' on Mars

By Alexander McNamara published

Sept. 14, 2024: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Human Behavior
A banner for Live Science's partnership with HTLGI festival. The code for the 20% discount is LS24

Live Science x HowTheLightGetsIn — Get discounted tickets to the world’s largest ideas and music festival

By Alexander McNamara published

Live Science has partnered with HowTheLightGetsIn, taking place from Sept. 21 to 22 at Kenwood House, London. See how our readers can get a special discount.

Arts & Entertainment
Artist's impression of the SpaceX Crew Dragon lander on Mars

Elon Musk said he's 'definitely going to be dead' before humans go to Mars — and you probably will be too

By Brad Bergan published

Book excerpt "If it's taken us 18 years just to get ready to do the first people in orbit, we've got to improve our rate of innovation."

Book excerpt

'The beauty of symbolic equations is that it's much easier to … see a problem at a glance': How we moved from words and pictures to thinking symbolically

By Robyn Arianrhod published

"Even the +, −, =, and x signs we take for granted only came into widespread use in the 17th century. Which means that the earlier algebraists we know of … all had expressed their equations mostly in words or pictorial word images"

Mathematics
Geomagnetic field around planet Earth in space. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.

'A force more powerful than gravity within the Earth': How magnetism locked itself inside our planet

By Frank Close published

"As the magma cooled to form what is today the world's solid outer crust, magnetism was locked into minerals containing iron, such as magnetite."

Physics & Mathematics
The Curie Society ($18.95) and The Curie Society, Volume 2: Eris Eternal ($22.95) are available on Amazon/MIT's Ritu Raman

'We're meeting people where they are': Graphic novels can help boost diversity in STEM, says MIT's Ritu Raman

By Alexander McNamara published

In a new series of comics, where young, female scientists take center stage, MIT's Ritu Raman explains how the format can inspire the next generation of young people into the world of STEM.

Arts & Entertainment
Rewild the World at Bedtime by Emily Hawkins, illustrated by Ella Beech © Wide Eyed Editions, 2024

'Most of Gorongosa's large animals had died': How an African paradise for nature recovered from the ravages of war

By Alexander McNamara published

"Where once there had been more than two thousand elephants, now there were fewer than two hundred."

Elephants
Aerial view photograph of small islands in the Solomon Islands. - A photo of two angles of an inscribed sling bullet found in Spain in 2019.

5 stories making science news this week: A Pacific 'superstructure' and an ancient Roman bullet

By Alexander McNamara published

Jan. 14, 2024: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Planet Earth
An adult Nanotyrannus lancensis attacking a young Tyrannosaurus rex. - A powerful X5 solar flare event.

5 stories making science news this week: A T. rex saga and massive solar flare

By Alexander McNamara published

Jan. 7, 2024: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Animals
We see hundreds of gold and silver coins against a black background.

The most popular Live Science stories of 2023

By Alexander McNamara published

These were the stories our readers loved in 2023.

Animals
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures host Michael Wooldridge with a robot

How to watch the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures online and on TV

By Alexander McNamara published

Every Christmas, the U.K.'s Royal Institution puts on a set of lectures, each exploring a fascinating subject in science. Here's how you can watch the Ri Christmas Lectures wherever you are.

Artificial Intelligence
Science news this week includes a 72 million-year-old mosasaur unearthed in Japan and a startling theory about atom-sized black holes.

Science news this week: An ancient 'blue dragon' and atom-size black holes

By Alexander McNamara published

Dec. 24, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Extinct species
An aerial view of the volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula in south west Iceland which has erupted after weeks of intense earthquake activity, on December 20, 2023 in Grindavik, Iceland.

Iceland volcano LIVE: Likelihood of further eruptions diminished, lava flows appear to have ceased

By Hannah Osborne, Sascha Pare, Harry Baker last updated

LIVE Latest updates on the volcano on Iceland's Reykjanes peninsula, which began erupting on Monday (Dec. 18) north of the small fishing village of Grindavík following weeks of localised earthquakes and sinkholes.

LIVE
Science news this week includes a dolphin with an unexpected appendage and a massive 1,000-qubit quantum chip.

Science news this week: A dolphin with thumbs and a massive quantum chip

By Alexander McNamara published

Dec. 17, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Technology
Science news this week includes SpaceX rockets creating blood-red ‘atmospheric holes’ and privacy-boosting smart glasses that use sonar.

Science news this week: Atmospheric holes and smarter glasses

By Alexander McNamara published

Dec. 3, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained.

Space
Science news this week includes a 'missing' blob of water in the Atlantic and 100,000 centuries-old coins in Japan.

Science news this week: The Atlantic's missing blob and 100,000 ancient coins

By Alexander McNamara published

Nov. 26, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Planet Earth
Science news this week includes a virus that attached itself to another virus and the first images from ESA's dark universe detective Euclid.

Science news this week: A virus' virus and Euclid's magnificent first photo

By Alexander McNamara published

Nov, 12, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Health
Striped cat yawns with wide open mouth on bright pink background; The sun showing sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

Science news this week: The many faces of cats and an impending solar maximum

By Alexander McNamara published

Nov. 5, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Animals
Science news this week includes a perilous expedition to an uninhabited island in the South Atlantic to find the world's 8th lava lake, and a chunk of the moon appears to be orbiting near Earth.

Science news this week: Lava lakes and moon chunks

By Alexander McNamara published

Oct. 29, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Planet Earth
Bright neuron; dark body of water against black rock cliffs.

Science news this week: False memories and swallowed seas

By Alexander McNamara published

Oct. 15, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Health
Deep sea water abyss with blue sun light.

'Earth's civilizations are shaped by what the ocean engine does,' says oceanographer Helen Czerski

By Alexander McNamara published

In this interview, British oceanographer Helen Czerski explains the systems driving our ocean, compares it to a fancy cocktail, and explains what the next great ocean frontier is.

Planet Earth
Norse gods, Nobel Prize

Science news this week: Norse treasures and Nobel Prizes

By Alexander McNamara published

Oct. 8, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Archaeology
Science news this week includes discoveries from the James Webb telescope and the development of an ‘inverse vaccine’.

Science news this week: James Webb telescope discoveries and an inverse vaccine

By Alexander McNamara published

Oct. 1, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Space
Nuclear pasta; Pink diamonds

Science news this week: Pink diamonds and nuclear 'pasta'

By Alexander McNamara published

Sept. 24, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Planet Earth
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