Jessica Benko is a print and radio journalist interested in the intersection of science and technology with individual human lives. Her work often focuses on communities on the margins of society, from the illegal goldmines of the Amazon to the barren tundra of the Arctic. Her journalism can be found in National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, This American Life, Radiolab, and elsewhere.
HE SURVIVED EBOLA, NOW HE'S FIGHTING TO KEEP IT FROM SPREADING
The New York Times Magazine
As new cases of Ebola continue to appear, the front-line soldiers are the rural health workers.
THE RADICAL HUMANENESS OF NORWAY'S HALDEN PRISON
The New York Times Magazine
The goal of the Norwegian penal system is to get inmates out of it.
VQR
Gold, mercury, poverty and profit in the Amazonian region of Madre de Dios, Peru.
SHE CARRIES THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD
National Geographic | PROOF
A little girl supports her family of five--her widowed mother and three other siblings.
The Atavist
Paralyzed and unable to speak after a stroke, Cathy Hutchinson was trapped inside her mind.
THE PEOPLE WHO WALK WITH REINDEER
National Geographic Magazine
Indigenous Sami reindeer herders of in the Scandinavian Arctic
Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting | Untold Stories
Behind the scenes of reporting on widowhood in northern India
STORIES OF SURVIVORS OF VIOLENT EXTREMISM IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
United Nations Development Programme
Book and multimedia website of interviews from Nigeria, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon, part of Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism in Africa: A Development Approach, a UNDP initiative, aims to reverse the growth of violent extremism in Africa.
HOW A WARMING PLANET DRIVES HUMAN MIGRATION
The New York Times Magazine
Climate change is a threat multiplier: It contributes to economic and political instability.
MAKING AND UNMAKING THE DIGITAL WORLD
The New York Times Magazine
On the growing footprint of the virtual world
WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU | A REAL NAIL BITER
This American Life
Cathy was almost killed several times... by a thought that she just couldn't get rid of.
Radiolab
Bob Milne has a rare ability that has brain researchers scratching their heads.
TO SOLVE A SOCIAL PROBLEM, YOU NEED MORE THAN A THEORY--
Wired
Randomized controlled trials are revolutionizing the world of international development.
WHAT'S KILLING MINNESOTA'S MOOSE?
OnEarth
The cell phone alert was designed to wake anyone from a deep sleep. “MORTALITY EVENT DETECTED.”
Studio 360
Maxine, who is eight years old, introduces listeners to her paracosm: her rich, imaginary world.
Studio 360
The world's longest-running artificial intelligence is called AARON. And AARON makes art.
Studio 360
What traits could we engineer to “improve” people?
Studio 360
Long before science explained rabies, the virus showed up in folklore and literature.
Studio 360
Why would anyone want to re-create the lethal influenza that killed between 50-100M people?
Studio 360
But in the internet era, we decided not to beat viruses, but to join them. “Going viral” became the goal...
MIND AND MACHINE | THE FUTURE OF THINKING
World Science Festival
Can powerful computers rival the human brain?
BLACK HOLES AND HOLOGRAPHIC WORLDS
World Science Festival
Black holes are gravitational behemoths that dramatically twist space and time.
BACK TO THE BIG BANG | INSIDE THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER
World Science Festival
Venture deep inside the world’s biggest physics machine, the Large Hadron Collider.
HIDDEN DIMENSIONS | EXPLORING HYPERSPACE
World Science Festival
Extra dimensions of space may be key to explaining the fundamental nature of the universe.
World Science Festival
Austrian logician Kurt Gödel showed that there are mathematical truths which simply can’t be proven.
Radiolab
Tales of lethargic farmers, zombie cockroaches, and even mind-controlled humans (kinda, maybe).
Radiolab
What happens at the moment when we slip from life...to the other side?
YELLOW FLUFF AND OTHER CURIOUS ENCOUNTERS
Radiolab
This hour, stories of love and loss in the name of science.
Radiolab
Humans love to solve problems. our attempt to find out what's wrong, and give it a label.
Radiolab
Radiolab asks what race is, and whether it's fixed or fluid, genes or culture?
Radiolab
In this hour, some basic questions and profound thoughts about reproduction.
Radiolab
We turn up the volume on the voices in our heads, and try to make sense of the babble.
Radiolab
Stories of musical hallucinations, songs with the power to transcend language, & the return of the Elvis of Afghanistan.
FLASH OF GENIUS | STORIES OF INVENTION
World Science Festival
True innovators create optimum conditions for transformative insights.