A seasoned journalist rethinks science storytelling with Nautilus, a literary digital and print publication that explores science, philosophy, and culture.

John Steele, the magazine’s founder, had spent 40 years in broadcast news, but wanted to move away from the sensational, reductionist status quo of popular science journalism — the variety that informs us that coffee is bad for us one day and a panacea the next. But he also had to find a way to keep readers engaged with topics that can be technically daunting — even people trained in one discipline of science can struggle to understand cutting-edge work in another field.

His solution relies on one core principle: “If you really want to grab somebody, if you really want to engage them, just tell them a good story,” says Steele.

Nautilus thrives on the premise that science storytelling should be different. Never before have we been able to glimpse more wonderful things, and never have there been so many awe-inspiring stories to tell. The Nautilus team aims to foster curiosity by telling those stories and featuring contrarian points of view that might not receive coverage in mainstream science publications.