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ANDY ISAACSON
Writing
Photography
Projects
Bio
ANDY ISAACSON
Writing
Photography
Projects
Bio
Writing
Photography
Projects
Bio
Featured
Into Thin Ice
Into Thin Ice

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC | Earth cools when sunlight reflects off Arctic sea ice—which is melting away. Where does that leave us?

By Foot into Peru’s Lost World
By Foot into Peru’s Lost World

BIOGRAPHIC | A team of herpetologists treks into one of South America’s most pristine and poorly understood mountain ranges and discovers animals found nowhere else on Earth.

Amazon Awakening
Amazon Awakening

NEW YORK TIMES | Ayahuasca visions and cultural tourism in Ecuador's rain forest.

Can a Better Vibrator Inspire an Age of Great American Sex?
Can a Better Vibrator Inspire an Age of Great American Sex?

THE ATLANTIC | Sex toys have transformed into sophisticated and well-designed gadgets that take their inspiration from Apple not Hustler. But one company has a bigger hope: that a better machine could mean better sex for a repressed nation. 

Return of the Fungi
Return of the Fungi

MOTHER JONES | Paul Stamets is on a quest to find an endangered mushroom that could cure smallpox, TB, and even bird flu. Can he unlock its secrets before deforestation and climate change wipe it out?

The Perfect Moment Goes Perfectly Viral
The Perfect Moment Goes Perfectly Viral

THE NEW YORKER | Two weeks ago, the planet’s most unlikely film star turned from a Ugandan warlord to a nine-year-old kid who runs a homemade cardboard arcade out of his dad’s used-auto-parts store, Smart Parts, in East Los Angeles. 

Tristan da Cunha: Island at the End of the World
Tristan da Cunha: Island at the End of the World

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER | Everything is off the beaten track on the world’s most remote inhabited island.

Farming Insects to Save Lemurs
Farming Insects to Save Lemurs

BIOGRAPHIC | An innovative approach to Madagascar's malnutrition crisis may be one of the best hopes for protecting the island nation's imperiled primates and the forests they call home.

Steeped in Tea
Steeped in Tea


UTNE | The social significance of tea in America: how tea became the beverage of inner peace and armchair travel.
 

Are Tablets the Way Out of Child Illiteracy?
Are Tablets the Way Out of Child Illiteracy?

SMITHSONIAN | Give them technology that they may have never seen before, and students' brains will work wonders.

Pamir Mountains, the Crossroads of History
Pamir Mountains, the Crossroads of History

NEW YORK TIMES | Retracing the Silk Road through Tajikistan.

Just Me and My RV
Just Me and My RV


NEW YORK TIMES | A western road trip to the world's largest RV rally.
 

Dropping In on Obama's Kenyan Grandmother
Dropping In on Obama's Kenyan Grandmother

SLATE | What it means to be an Obama in Africa.

In Search of the Best American Truffles
In Search of the Best American Truffles

WSJ. | Long considered inferior to European varieties, American truffles are making a comeback with a festival in Oregon and a few highly skilled dogs leading the way.

How Humanity Is Killing The World:  'Racing Extinction'
How Humanity Is Killing The World: 'Racing Extinction'

WIRED | Attention, humanity! You are ruining the world. And The Cove’s Louis Psihoyos is back to make you confront what you’re doing.

The 36,201 FT (Deep) Man
The 36,201 FT (Deep) Man


NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ADVENTURE | It was one of the last great feats of exploration: Diving alone, in a sub, to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. For three years the quest consumed an idealistic engineer and a single-minded record-setter. This is their untold story. 
 

Channing Tatum and the Quest for the Perfect Buzz
Channing Tatum and the Quest for the Perfect Buzz

MEN'S FITNESS | How two young entrepreneurs and one Hollywood A-Lister, with the help of a caffeinated Amazonian “super leaf,” are trying to shake up the $30 billion energy-drink market with a healthier alternative. 

The Incubator
The Incubator


AUDUBON | Once USGS biologist Sam Droege gets a research project up and running, he dreams up a new one—and builds it.
 

Deep Impact: Attenborough at 88
Deep Impact: Attenborough at 88

AUDUBON | Never mind old age. David Attenborough still does his own stunts in a lifelong quest to bring wildlife to your living room (or mobile device).

The Ski Resort That Crowdsourcing Built
The Ski Resort That Crowdsourcing Built

NEW YORK TIMES | The young owners of Powder Mountain in Utah use their networking skills to draw investors to their planned ski resort.

At The Top Of The World
At The Top Of The World

WORLD WILDLIFE | Snow leopards, fresh water, and climate change in Kyrgyzstan.

Springtime on the Border
Springtime on the Border

ALTERNET | Instead of waiting for Washington to take action, the Minuteman volunteers bring Washington to the border, demanding attention for an illegal immigration storm.

Riding the Rails
Riding the Rails

NEW YORK TIMES | From New York to California by Amtrak. 

The Robotic Search For Lost World War II Airmen
The Robotic Search For Lost World War II Airmen

POPULAR SCIENCE | World War II combat pilots have been lost at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean for nearly 70 years. Now autonomous robots have been deployed to find them.

Are You Following a Bot?
Are You Following a Bot?

THE ATLANTIC | How to manipulate social movements by hacking Twitter.

Theater of War
Theater of War

MONOCLE | To build up the Afghan National Army, the U.S. Marines create their own Taliban stronghold – in Nevada. 

Engineer Mate Rimac Revolutionizes Electric Cars
Engineer Mate Rimac Revolutionizes Electric Cars

WSJ. | The young Croatian built the fastest electric car in the world. Now his innovative designs are being licensed by manufacturers building the next generation of supercars.

In a Changing Antarctica, Some Penguins Thrive as Others Suffer
In a Changing Antarctica, Some Penguins Thrive as Others Suffer

NEW YORK TIMES | Global warming and the Adélie penguin.

My Starring Roll in Laos
My Starring Roll in Laos

AFAR | While backpacking through a village in Laos, I invented a dessert sushi at a small restaurant. 7 years later, it had become a sensation. 

Hawaii’s Last Wayfinders
Hawaii’s Last Wayfinders

ISLANDS | Fewer than 20 people in the world can navigate the South Pacific using only glow sticks and instinct. 

© 2025 Andy Isaacson