Jennifer G. Ackerman is a writer specializing in the sciences. A contributor to the "New York Times", "National Geographic", & many other publications, she is a former staff writer & researcher for the book division of the National Geographic Society. She has lectured at Harvard, MIT, the University of Virginia, the Nature Conservancy, & other institutions. Her first book, "Notes from the Shore", was published in 1995. Ackerman won a Bunting fellowship & a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to write "Chance in the House of Fate". She is married to the novelist Karl Ackerman & has two daughters.