About the Author

David M. Lawrence has worked as a scientist and journalist, and holds master's degrees in geography and journalism. He has worked as an independent researcher and research assistant in forest ecology and dendrochronology at a number of institutions, including Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and has served as a reporter, editor, and producer at daily newspapers and Web sites in Louisiana, New Jersey, and Virginia. He is author of the book Upheaval from the Abyss: Ocean Floor Mapping and the Earth Science Revolution. Some of his shorter works have appeared in the periodicals The Lancet, The Lancet Infectious Disease, Mercator's World, Vegetarian Times, and Woods Hole Currents, and in the books The Science of Dune and The Science of Michael Crichton. He lives in Virginia.