Nadia Drake

Science journalist

Fascinated by exploration both on and off this planet, Nadia Drake writes and thinks about both the very big (astronomy) and the very small (spiders).

Why you should listen

Nadia Drake is a freelance science journalist and contributing writer at National Geographic. She specializes in writing about planetary science, though she also loves to write about locations on Earth, too. She’s reported from around the world, traveling to the jungles of Peru and Indonesian Borneo, the Arctic Ocean and even the glaciers at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. She has written for publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Nature, Wired, Science News and more.

While her life is now full of giant bugs and tales of space exploration, Drake was once a professional ballet dancer. She has a PhD in genetics from Cornell University and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Nadia Drake’s TED talk

26:55

Heidi Hammel and Nadia Drake

The marvels and mysteries revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope

Posted Nov 2022

More news and ideas from Nadia Drake

TEDWomen

TEDWomen Presents: Women leading the future, with Heidi Hammel and Nadia Drake

October 27, 2022

Nothing says “future” quite like humanity’s quest to understand our cosmic surroundings. The fourth day of TEDWomen Presents — an online festival featuring interviews with leading women, interactive workshops, specially curated film screenings and more — focused on science and the future, with a conversation between astronomer Heidi Hammel and science journalist Nadia Drake. Big […]