''Undark Magazine'' is a non-profit, editorially independent

online publication Electronic publishing (also referred to as publishing, digital publishing, or online publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It also includes the editin ...

exploring

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

as a "frequently wondrous, sometimes contentious, and occasionally troubling byproduct of human culture." The name Undark is a deliberate reference to a radium-based luminous paint product, also called

Undark Undark was a trade name for luminous paint made with a mixture of radioactive radium and zinc sulfide, as produced by the U.S. Radium Corporation between 1917 and 1938. It was used primarily in watch and clock dials. The people working in th ...

, that ultimately proved toxic and, in some cases, deadly for the workers who handled it. The publication's tag line is "Truth, Beauty, Science." The magazine is published under the auspices of the

Knight Science Journalism Fellowship The Knight Science Journalism program (styled as "KSJ@MIT") offers 9-month research fellowships, based at its headquarters at the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, to elite staff and freelance journalists specializing in cover ...

s program at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

. ''Undark'' publishes a mix of

long-form journalism Long-form journalism is a branch of journalism dedicated to longer articles with larger amounts of content. Typically, this will be between 1,000 and 20,000 words. Long-form articles often take the form of creative nonfiction or narrative journ ...

, shorter features, essays,

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. ...

s, questions and answers, and book excerpts and reviews. All content is freely available to read, and most is available for republishing by other publications and websites. Many large national and international publications, including ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

'', ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', '' Smithsonian'', NPR, and '' Outside'' have republishing relationships with ''Undark''. ''Undark'' was jointly founded in 2016 by Pulitzer Prize-winning science author

Deborah Blum Deborah Blum (born October 19, 1954) is an American science journalist and the director of the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

and former ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' journalist Tom Zeller Jr., who serves as

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the magazine.

Awards

''Undark'' has earned numerous awards for its journalism, including being named a finalist for a 2022

National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

in the Reporting category. On February 19, 2019, ''Undark'' was awarded a

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for Environmental Reporting. The award honored photojournalist Larry C. Price and contributing reporters for the magazine's multinational, multipart exposé on global air pollution, called "Breathtaking". The series also won the 2019 Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award from the

Online News Association The Online News Association (ONA), founded in 1999, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Washington D.C., United States. It is the world's largest association of digital journalists, with more than 2,000 members. The majority of ONA ...

. The magazine's work has been anthologized in '' The Best American Science & Nature Writing'' book series. In 2017, ''Undark'' was a finalist for an

Online Journalism Award The Online News Association (ONA), founded in 1999, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Washington D.C., United States. It is the world's largest association of digital journalists, with more than 2,000 members. The majority of O ...

in the Feature category for its series "Wear & Tear", which explored the global impacts of the leather tanning and textile industries. In 2018, three ''Undark'' contributors were named as finalists in the

National Association of Science Writers The National Association of Science Writers (NASW) was created in 1934 by a dozen science journalists and reporters in New York City.

' Science and Society Awards.

References

External links

* Science and technology magazines published in the United States Online magazines published in the United States American science websites Magazines established in 2016 Magazines published in Boston {{italic title