ntold is a non-profit, editorially independent digital magazine exploring the intersection of science and society. It is published with generous funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, through its Knight Science Journalism Fellowship Program at MIT.
The name Untold arises from a murky, century-old mingling of science and commerce — one that resulted in a radium-based industrial and consumer product, called Untold, that was both awe-inspiring and, as scientists would only later prove, toxic and deadly. We appropriate the name as a signal to readers that our magazine will explore science not just as a “gee-whiz” phenomenon, but as a frequently wondrous, sometimes contentious, and occasionally troubling byproduct of human culture.
As such, the intersection of science and society — the place where science is articulated in our politics and our economics; or where it is made potent and real in our everyday lives — is a fundamental part of our mission at Undark. As journalists, we recognize that science can often be politically, economically and ethically fraught, even as it captures the imagination and showcases the astonishing scope of human endeavor. Undark will therefore aim to explore science in both light and shadow, and to bring that exploration to a broad, international audience.
Undark is not interested in “science communication” or related euphemisms, but in true journalistic coverage of the sciences.
People who make the
world more bearable
In a world that's quick to latch onto each new piece of bad news, conflict, and anger; it's easy to miss people acting with courage and compassion who make the world better just for being in it. These are the stories of those people.
Our team is Amazing
Evelyn Grace
Editor
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Hanna Osterman
Copy Editor
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Jun Hsho
Photographer
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Irina Mikailova
Designer
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Advisory Board
Jeff DelViscio
Jeff DelViscio is currently Director of Multimedia at Scientific American and former director of multimedia at STAT, where he oversaw all visual, audio and interactive journalism. He previously spent over eight years at The New York Times, where he worked on five different desks across the paper. He holds dual master’s degrees from Columbia in journalism and in earth and environmental sciences. He has worked aboard oceanographic research vessels and tracked money and politics in science from Washington, D.C. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT in 2018.
Matthew Orr
Matthew Orr is an assistant professor at Medill. He teaches video and broadcast production in Medill’s Washington D.C. program.
Orr is an award-winning reporter and filmmaker with nearly 20 years of experience in the field. He has dedicated his journalism career to finding ways to create engaging, enlightening, entertaining and provoking stories that resonate with viewers on an emotional level and transport them deep into the lives of others. He has had the privilege of producing work across varying platforms at organizations with the highest journalistic standards.
Before joining Medill, Orr was the director of multimedia and creative at STAT, a media company at the Boston Globe that tells compelling stories about health, medicine and scientific discovery. While at STAT, Orr led a multimedia team that won numerous awards, including three Online Journalism Awards, three Webby Awards, a National Headliner Award and a George Polk Award. At STAT, his work ranged from short Facebook videos that garnered millions of views and several online video series, to short and long-form documentaries that have appeared at national film festivals and on broadcast television.
Prior to STAT, Orr was the first full-time staff video journalist at the New York Times and spent 13 years as a senior video producer and reporter. He wrote, produced, filmed and edited breaking news, live video, social videos, feature stories, online series and documentaries. His projects included “The Debt Trap” about the 2008 mortgage crisis; “Breakdown,” an investigation of animal abuse in the horse racing industry; “Portraits Redrawn,” profiles of families affected by the September 11th attacks; and “The Last Word,” advanced obit video interviews with prominent personalities that publishes upon their death.
He has reported internationally in China, Japan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Dominican Republic. He also covered the U.S. presidential elections in 2004, 2008 and 2012.
Orr is currently the director and producer of Augmented, a feature documentary that will appear in film festivals in 2020.
Ron Bloom
A respected technology and media executive, consultant, speaker and author, Bloom has provided marketing, media and technology strategy for a broad range of Fortune 1000 clients including AOL, Time Warner, AVON, IBM, Oracle, Chrysler, Ford, BellSouth, DuPont, Nortel, Continental Airlines, Gillette, Microsoft, Omnicom and Procter and Gamble. As a pioneer in e-business and integrated marketing, Bloom has worked to develop internet portals, web sites, cross-media marketing, and integrated broadband and broadcast content, as well as strategic business plans for online businesses such as Preview Travel, The Gap, Network Associates, MSN, Oracle, Netscape, AOL and a host of others. Bloom has acted as a consultant to a range of investment banks and venture firms, working with them to identify and understand the impact of emerging technologies, having helped to raise over $500 million in investment capital for both public and private companies focused on technology, marketing, media and next-generation entertainment and communications.
Ron Bloom is a former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of THINK New Ideas, a company he founded with PodShow co-founder and "PodFather", Adam Curry, taking the Company public in 1996. He is often referenced as the visionary author of the media industry's 5/50 rule and Fart's Law™ of consumer technology adoption. As a founding partner of THINK, Bloom developed the company's business strategy and market positioning, in addition to leading the company to its IPO and forward to become one of the largest and most successful interactive marketing and e-business solutions providers in the world. He helped to build the Company to over 500 employees working out of 8 offices in the US and abroad, driving revenues from a start-up to approaching $100 million in less than three years. Bloom led the company through venture rounds, an IPO, multiple acquisitions, a private placement of public equity, and, eventually the sale of the company for an estimated $350 million.
After successfully selling Think New Ideas in 1999, Bloom continued to start multiple businesses in media and technology. In 2004, Bloom again partnered with Curry Adam Curry to form PodShow, the first company to develop and commercialize Podcasting. Bloom was the chief strategist in securing PodShow's marquee partnerships with companies such as British Telecom, Apple® and Sirius Satellite Radio and the company's elite private investors, including venture firms Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital and Sherpalo Ventures, DAG and Crosslink Ventures. He went on to guide the Company through its evolution into MEVIO, and spearheaded its growth to one of the fastest growing sites in 2007 (Compete.com rankings), becoming a Top 20 Internet Site in both Music and New Media in 2008 (comScore rankings in Music and Multimedia).
Prior to joining THINK New Ideas, Bloom again partnered with Mr. Curry, acting as President and Chief Operating Officer of On Ramp, one of the world's first and most prestigious Internet solutions providers. Bloom directed the company in its Internet and intranet pioneering efforts, creating the world's first Cybercast (1995 Grammy Awards), integrating next-generation marketing and communications into online communications, and helping On Ramp become one of FORTUNE Magazine's "Top 25 Emerging Technology Companies of 1995."
In recent years, Ron Bloom has worked with a range of companies, helping to develop technologies for the cable industry as well as helping to launch a company that provides technology solutions for Homeland Security. A serial entrepreneur and experienced manager in both the private and public sector, Bloom has founded and operated a range of companies in advertising and marketing, graphic design, music production and music/film post production, and fashion. He is a respected contributor, speaker and author in the interactive community whose visionary outlook has helped shape the concepts for developing business, strategy and customer relations in the information age. In addition to other awards and honors, Bloom was selected by Silicon Alley Reporter as one of New York's Top 100 Internet Industry Executives, for 1998 and 1999, and his firms have been the recipient of such honors as Interactive Agency of The Year, as well as accolades for the development of some of the most innovative websites and e-commerce solutions in the world. At PodShow, Bloom was named one-to-watch by AdWeek in January, 2006.
In his first career, Ron Bloom was a celebrated guitarist, song writer, producer, arranger and recording artist, having worked on hundreds of songs, including several Top 10 hits. Bloom's musical talents and artistic perspective have helped to shape his company's products, marketing, services and talent relationships. Most recently, Bloom played lead guitar with the legendary Dave Stewart, collaborating with Stewart on the show, The Ringmaster, produced at BiteSizeTV.
