Sam Kean spent years collecting mercury from broken thermometers as a child and now he is a writer in Washington DC. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Slate and New Scientist, inter alia. Sam gets called Sean at least once a month. He grew up in South Dakota, which means more to him than it probably should. He's a fast reader but a very slow eater. He went to college in Minnesota and studied physics and English. He taught for a few years at an experimental charter school in St. Paul, where the kids showed up at night. After that, he tried to move to Spain (it didn't take) and ended up in Washington, D.C. He has a master's degree in library science he will probably never… use. He wishes he had a sports team he was passionate about, but doesn't, though he does love track andamp; field.