Hello! I am Hannah Waters, a science journalist currently working full-time as a senior editor covering biology at Quanta Magazine. I oversee the magazine's biology section, assigning and editing news and features about new ideas and discoveries about how life works, including evolutionary biology, molecular biology, biophysics, climate science, cell biology, neuroscience, and more.
I'm proud to have worked with writers, artists, editors, and other colleagues on articles and projects that have received professional recognition. These include:
- Finalist in the News and Information Design category, from the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), for How We Came to Know Earth, a Quanta Magazine special project on fundamental climate science published in September 2025, featuring contributions from nine writers and a dazzling set of animated planets by Mark Belan.
- Gold Award in the Magazine category for the 2025 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards, from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and The Kavli Foundation, for "The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology" in Quanta Magazine by Max G. Levy.
- Official Selection for The Best American Science and Nature Writing, from Mariner Books, in 2023 and 2026.
- Honorable Mention in the Science category of the 2026 American Society of Journalists and Authors Awards for "Mixing Is the Heartbeat of Deep Lakes. At Crater Lake, It's Slowing Down" by Rachel Nuwer in Quanta Magazine.
- Winner in the Personal Service category, from the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), for Start Here: Your Guide to Climate Action, a 14-page service guide in the September 2019 issue of Audubon Magazine.
I recently published my first art credit, for yarn sculptures crafted with Samuel Velasco to represent the tangled, physical reality of the human genome.
I've worked in science and environmental journalism since 2011, and am an experienced reporter, editor, fact checker, and web producer comfortable in digital and print. I've worked at Quanta Magazine since August 2023. From 2016 through 2023 I worked as an editor at Audubon magazine, most recently as a senior editor covering climate change. In my previous life as a freelancer, my clients included Scientific American, Wirecutter, Audubon, Quanta Magazine, Hakai Magazine, Slate, Smithonian, National Geographic, Bitch, and others. Other influential employment includes the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, UPenn Perelman School of Medicine, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, FinestKind Scenic Cruises in Ogunquit, Maine, and The Watershed Institute in Pennington, NJ. I graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, with a B.A. in biology and a language concentration in Latin.
I live in Brooklyn. If you'd like to collaborate on a project, you can reach me by email at hwaters [at] quantamagazine [dot] org or on Bluesky or LinkedIn.
Last updated: July 5, 2026
