​
Phil Jaekl
Phil Jaekl
I am a science writer with an extensive background in cognitive neuroscience, having completed my PhD while at York University in Toronto, Canada before going on to research positions in Barcelona and Rochester, New York. Aside from my academic publications I've written on topics related to neuroscience for The Atlantic, The Guardian, Knowable and Wired. I've has also written for New York Magazine and have contributed feature-length essays to Aeon. I live in Tromsø, in Norway’s arctic region, where I enjoy the outdoors while wearing many layers of clothing. Right now, I'm probably wishing I was fishing.
Selected Articles
Aeon
.jpeg)
Human Magnetoreception
For centuries, people have navigated the globe using instruments. But what if the Earth itself can help us feel our way?
The Inner Voice
Science investigates the physical. Your inner voice is not part of that realm. Can science approach it?
In Cold Blood
Therapeutic hypothermia can save lives, propel interstellar travel and expand consciousness. So why the cold feet?
The Atlantic
Why People Believe Low-Frequency Sound Is Dangerous
Anxiety over “wind-turbine syndrome” stems from a decades-old misunderstanding of inaudible sound.
Nautilus
I Didn’t Know My Mind Was So Strange Until I Started Listening to It
I participated for months in an experiment aimed to reveal the nature of inner experience.
Humans Are One Mixed-Up Ape
Human ancestry is remarkably and splendidly messy. An interview with biological anthropologist Todd Disotell
Knowable
A Magnetic Therapy for Depression Gains Precision
Tailoring transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment to individual brains may improve results.
The Scientist
Screams Communicate Human Emotions
A group of self-styled screamologists are sifting through the noisiness of nonverbal human vocalizations and finding previously undemonstrated forms of communication.
Mysterious Brain Waves May Connect REM Sleep with Visual Experiences
New methods could propel investigation of neural “PGO” wave patterns that may underlie critical aspects of visual experience, dreaming, and even psychosis.
Wired
OUT COLD
A Chilling Descent into the Macabre, Controversial, Lifesaving History of Hypothermia
In Out Cold, science writer Phil Jaekl tells the history of therapeutic hypothermia, from Ancient Egypt, where cold was used to treat skin irritations, to mad science involving crude experiments in the hopes of curing schizophrenia and devising a means of frozen suspended animation, to finally, modern medicine where cold is now becoming accepted for its lifesaving therapeutic value.
We understand hypothermia now better than ever before, and we have numerous new cooling techniques at our disposal, yet a macabre stigma still hangs over the field. This book will delve into a dark history from which science is now coming out on top.