Editorial Focus Areas
Last updated
August 25, 2021
When you pitch your story ideas we’ll ask you to frame them within one of our coverage areas (or multiple! overlap is OK). In your pitch, just specify which area you’re aiming for. If you have a story idea that you’re not sure fits, say so in your pitch — we’ll help you figure out if it might fit somewhere. To help guide you, there are some example articles from Massive and other outlets.
Human Impact
Humans have a long history of intervening in complex systems, with unpredictable results.We’re interested in exploring the consequences of these changes, from the planetary consequences of climate change to the bodily impacts of changing our personal microbiomes.
That means if you have a story about how humans are affecting, or have affected, the world — in terms of climate, the environment, the health of humans, flora, or fauna — we want it, and it goes in this category.
Here is an example of a story that belongs here and in Food Stories (below)
Life in Science
We need to redefine who can be a scientist, where science can happen, and what “science” is; otherwise, this work will continue to produce unreliable results for individuals, for workplaces, and for society.
Do you look at science and see something wrong? Something big and overwhelming, like the systematic exclusion of whole groups of people, or a comment on one single story, like whether scientists should use Instagram? It belongs here.
Food
Everybody has a stake in a safe, healthy, and sustainable food system. But science profoundly influences our understanding of what we eat, where our food comes from, and whether it’s healthy or safe for us. We want to make the science of food more accessible, so that each of us can make informed decisions about our diets and advocate for new ways to ensure everyone can eat well.
Stories about how we eat, how we care for our bodies, how we can grow crops better, nutritional science, and all the ways feeding humanity changes the world go here. These stories can be about food itself, how it’s distributed, how it’s made, the policies that govern it, how we approach nutrition in general.
The Brain
We’ve never had an agreed-upon model for how the mind works—and people have suffered from misinformed theories and treatments as a result. As the current chapter in a speckled history, the work of today’s behavioral neuroscientists deserves extra scrutiny. We’re interested in stories about the brain from personal and professional perspectives.
These are some of our most popular pieces! Stories about new medicines aimed at the nervous system, futuristic new brain reading technology, mental health, neuro-art, and more.
Algorithms
We’re pulling back the curtain to show you what’s happening inside the software that’s eating the world. We’re rushing head-first into a brave new world of algorithmic decision making, but these systems are completely unknowable to so many people whose lives they touch. Understanding the inner workings of these systems is the only way to hold accountable the people who benefit from them, protect your rights and privacy, and make sure these new powers are wielded responsibly.