Image by Ian Burt, via Flickr

This Is a Goodbye Post

ByVirginia Hughes
December 19, 2014
3 min read

Some bittersweet news: This is the last installment of Only Human. After two stimulating and fun years blogging at Phenomena, I’m starting a new job: building an investigative science desk for BuzzFeed News.

When I launched this blog I intended to write, as I put it in my first post, “stories about people — what we’re made of, what we do, why we do it.”

The human beat proved to be a bit too broad. This week, after looking back at all of my posts, I realized that Only Human has focused on a handful of subtopics: criminal justice, memory, obesity, dogs, kids, and the business of science. Below I’ve listed links to representative posts from each.

The best part about writing for Phenomena has been sharing this little corner of the big, bad internet with my smart, enthusiastic and frequently hilarious co-bloggers (and friends), Nadia Drake, Brian Switek, Ed Yong and Carl Zimmer. And our blogging overlord, Jamie Shreeve, couldn’t have been kinder or more supportive. Truly.

And readers! You, too, have been wonderful — curious, encouraging, inspiring, provocative, and (almost always) constructive.  The comment thread on my post about losing my dog (which, after more than a year, is still going strong!) has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my writing career.

I look forward to seeing how Phenomena continues to thrive and evolve, and I hope you’ll check out BuzzFeed’s emerging science coverage. Though I won’t be on these pages anymore, you can always find me on Twitter or by email. Happy New Year to all — and here’s to new beginnings.

BEST OF ONLY HUMAN

Criminal Justice

Making Juries Better: Some Ideas from Neuroeconomics

How Many People Are Wrongly Convicted?

My DNA Made Me Do It?

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