Who are you?

I'm James Gaines. I was born in Texas, grew up in a cabin in the woods, and once had a pet alligator snapping turtle for about two hours. I'm currently living in Seattle, where I meander aimlessly around the neighborhood and make up fiction about Bronze Age civilizations.

What do you do for work?

I'm a freelance science writer, journalist, and fact-checker. I’m able to tackle many different subjects — from physics to sociology — but I have a special focus on solutions journalism as well as questions about how we assign value to historical objects and natural world.

Where can I see some of your work?

My writing has appeared in outlets such as Atlas Obscura, The Guardian, Nature, The Seattle Times, Undark and has been republished in The Atlantic, Mother Jones, and Smithsonian Magazine and more. I’ve also written scripts for SciShow and PBS Eons. If you want to see more, check out my writing page.

I’ve also fact-checked for magazines such as Discover, Pacific Standard, and Knowable, podcasts such as Gimlet’s How to Save a Planet, and books such as Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson’s All We Can Save. If you want to know more or hire me to fact-check for you, check out my fact-checking page.

Awesome! How can I get in touch with you?

Need someone to explain a tricky concept in an engaging and fun voice? Want a deep-dive into archaeology, climate science, or natural history? Want to make sure your next project is factually airtight? There’s some button doobley-doo’s on the side, but you can also: