36. Ed Yong

Author and science writer, The Atlantic

Ed Yong, a staff writer at The Atlantic, has long had a reputation for making science mesmerizing. Whether it’s his TED Talk about parasites (viewed 1.4 million times) or I Contain Multitudes, his 2016 book about microbes, he excels at sharing explanations that are thorough, precise and grounded in reality.

This year, Yong’s reporting became more relevant — and essential — than ever before. His extensive accounts of COVID‑19 set a high bar for all subsequent analyses of response to the pandemic. He has also proven quite the seer: In “How the Pandemic Will End,” published in late March, he predicted that America might wind up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world.

More recently, in “How the Pandemic Defeated America,” published in early August, Yong described how each U.S. fumble was both predictable and preventable.

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