Helen Pearson, science journalist, author, communicator

About Me

Hello, and welcome to my website. I’m a science journalist, editor, author and communicator.

I’ve been a journalist and editor for Nature, the world’s leading science journal, for over 20 years, including five years leading the team as Chief Magazine Editor. I won Editor of the Year at the Association of British Science Writers awards in 2022 and I currently edit content across the magazine. I’m also an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London, where I teach science writing.

My popular science book, The Life Project, was named best science book of the year by The Observer, and was a book of the year for The Economist. I’m currently working on a second book called What to Believe. It’s about the global movement promoting the use of research and evidence to make decisions.

Please browse my site and feel free to get in touch!

more about me >

The Life Project

The Life Project is about a remarkable series of scientific studies that have tracked generations of children growing up in Britain over the last 70 years. I spent about five years of my spare time researching and writing the book about these amazing studies, called the British birth cohorts. Today,…

What to Believe – Coming in 2024

What to Believe is the story of the global movement promoting the use of research evidence to reveal whether practices work. In the 1990s, medicine was transformed by the idea that evidence—in the form of randomized controlled trials—was the best way to guide medical practice, rather than doctors’ differing opinions…

Editor of the Year award

I was delighted to win Editor of the Year at the Association of British Science Writers awards in 2022. This was for my work as Chief Magazine Editor for Nature, leading the team of 65+ people who produce thought-leading journalism and opinion articles for one of the world’s leading science…

My TED talk: Lessons from the longest study on human development

Reviews

“The greatest scientific experiment in modern British history…Fascinating, shocking, heartening.”

Dominic Sandbrook, The Daily Mail

“Eye-opening, extraordinary insights into ordinary lives”

Isabel Berwick, Financial Times