Science reporter David Baron has covered such topics as the eruption of volcanoes in Iceland and the Caribbean, the hole in Earth's ozone layer above Antarctica, and the quest to control the disease-carrying tsetse fly in Africa.

His scientific reporting for National Public Radio and other media outlets has allowed him to witness important scientific phenomena from vantage points that few people ever experience.

"It was a big dream of mine when I was a kid to go to Antarctica, which, of course, is the continent that sits in the South Pole at the very bottom of Earth," he says. When he finally arrived more than a decade ago, he found a world unlike any he had seen before.

"At the South Pole, it is just flat and white and very cold. The day I was there, it was in the middle of summer, and it was -10° F. And in the summertime, the Sun never goes down. So I arrived at midnight, and it was perfectly bright out. It was a bright, sunny day, and over the course of the day, the Sun went around in the sky, but it never set. It so was unlike anything else one would experience on Earth that I felt I was on the Moon or on Mars."

Baron says he went to the opposite extreme in covering active volcanoes in both Montserrat and Iceland. Along the way, he came face to face with nature at its most dangerous.

"The volcano that I got to report on in Monteserrat, which is an island in the Caribbean, was particularly scary because Montserrat is a very small island, and there was no place to go far from the volcano. Scientists thought there was a whole section of the island which was safe; but they were never sure what the volcano would do. And what struck me was how completely unpredictable volcanoes are."

"The volcano in Iceland that I reported on was very different, because it was erupting under ice, and the danger of that volcano was: What happens when hot rock meets ice? You get a lot of water because the ice melts, and that water eventually turns into a huge flood that was very destructive and washed across the land."

David Baron talks about the view from the South Pole. (Requires QuickTime. Download now.)

Baron found that reporting on volcanoes was no easy matter.

• Listen to David Baron's National Public Radio stories, "Rebuilding Montserrat" and "Iceland Glacial Works" to hear his volcano reporting first hand. (Requires RealPlayer. Download now.)

Baron has done plenty of his reporting closer to home in the United States. One recent piece, published in The Boston Globe Magazine, looked at how civilization and wildlife are colliding outside of Denver, Colorado. Baron told the story of Andy Peterson, who was mauled by a mountain lion not far from a suburban development outside of Denver. The following excerpt describes their encounter:

If one were to size up the two creatures, Peterson had a slight weight advantage. The cat was small for a mountain lion - perhaps 80 pounds, about the size of a German shepherd. Peterson was small for a man - a slim 130 pounds, standing 5 feet 6. But the lion was built like a linebacker: thick neck, broad shoulders, massive thighs. The lion also had the advantage of claws sharp as ice picks and teeth that can shear deerhide. Peterson took out his Swiss Army knife and extended the 2-inch blade in a feeble attempt to match the cat's weaponry.

• Which descriptions bring this scene to life for you?

• What specific comparisons does Baron make between the human and the mountain lion?

• What is the effect of comparing the lion's claws to "ice picks"?

What was remarkable about the attack, and several other mountain lion encounters, was that it occurred so close to human homes. This problem, as well as the increased presence of coyotes and grizzly bears in areas inhabited by humans, is on the rise, Baron writes, as human development consumes the natural environment of the animals.

• What specific areas of scientific knowledge would be required for the kinds of stories that David Baron writes?

• Read Baron's article, "Wild in the Suburbs."

• Learn more about the problems animal populations can face in the Middle School Gateways activity, Exploring Food Chains and Food Webs , and the Biology Explorer activity, Two Competing Populations. (Requires Logal Express. Get a free trial subscription.)

Baron arrived at his current career, he says, through a combination of science studies and the influence of several good English teachers.

"I started out, actually, when I was in high school," he says. "I was very interested in geology. I used to collect rocks, so I have a great fondness for geology. When I was in college, I never thought I was going to be a journalist. I majored in physics and geology. I liked radio. I liked doing news on the radio for the college station. When I graduated from college, I didn't go to graduate school. I decided to write about science."

Baron talks about his scientific beginnings.

The science that may be most influential in the coming century, he adds, is the field of biotechnology.

"I think biotechnology and biology are the most exciting sciences today," he says. "Medicine is going to change. A lot of drugs that are available today are made through biotechnology. Insulin, which diabetics have to use to deal with their diabetes, is now produced in bacteria that have a human gene that was put into the bacteria. Eventually, biotechnology will produce corn, rice, and soybeans that are healthier for us.

Learn More

• Find out how other writers approach nature in the recent Riverdeep Today stories, "Learning to Write about Nature," in which student writers get hands-on experience in the Alaskan wilderness; and "Science through the Writer's Eye," which explores the connection between science and literature.

More Links

• Listen to other radio stories by David Baron. (Requires RealPlayer. Download now.)

  • Bear Necessities: Grizzly bears and humans are learning to coexist as wilderness and development collide.

  • From Dinosaurs to Birds: Dinosaurs might not have disappeared after all, according to some experts.

  • Iceman: David Baron explores another missing link with the discovery of a 5,000-year-old human frozen in a Canadian glacier.

Related Resources

• Get Green Ink: An Introduction to Environmental Journalism.