A Google insider spills the tea on how the company forsook its founding ideals
Claire Stapleton’s new book, Don’t Be Evil, recounts her journey from company cheerleader to outspoken dissident.
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Jennifer Ouellette
Senior Writer
jennifer.ouellette@arstechnica.com
Jennifer is a senior reporter at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. She has been writing professionally about physics and related topics for more than two decades, and was the founding director of the National Academy of Sciences’ Science and Entertainment Exchange from 2008-2010. Her work has appeared in Discover, Slate, Smithsonian, Nature, Physics World, and Quanta, among other publications. She previously worked as science editor for Gizmodo, and is the author of four popular science books, most recently The Calculus Diaries (2010) and Me, Myself And Why (2014). Professional highlight: appearing on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in February 2011 and winning one of the show’s coveted “Golden Harmonicas.” Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. BlueSky: @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social
Recent stories by
Jennifer Ouellette
Dogs can tell if you’re scared or sad
fMRI scans show happiness, fear, anger, and sadness have distinct brain activity patterns in doggy brains.
Jennifer Ouellette
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How snails engineer their slime
Collagen and calcium work in tandem to achieve varying mechanical properties of different kinds of mucus.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Parasitic zombie-ant fungus thrives in mosses, too
This may help fungi survive host scarcity and explains why infected hosts prefer the mosses as death sites.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Review: Spider-Man: Brand New Day reminds us that superhero movies can be good
It’s as much about grounded characters and well-timed emotional beats as CGI-filled action extravaganzas.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed
Also: Cyborg diving suits for cockroaches, why sleepy sperm whales blow bubbles, Betelgeuse’s companion star.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Review: Yes, we’re still arguing about Nolan’s The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan’s impressionistic remix of Homer’s epic poem finds the man behind the myth.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Gaming and IRL worlds collide in Jumanji: Open World trailer
“I’m beginning to suspect we are not in Jumanji.”
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Most Read
Study: Dinosaurs were charbroiled after Chicxulub impact
“We’re in the realm where we might be essentially killing off everything within that first hour or two.”
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First teaser for Apple TV’s Neuromancer debuts at SDCC
Plus Mike Flanagan’s Carrie teaser, trailers for Dark Matter S2 and Matchbox the Movie, and Marvel news.
Jennifer Ouellette
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SDCC teaser gives us our first good look at Blade Runner 2099
Also: Forging the One Ring in Rings of Power S3 teaser; new Lanterns trailer; Spaceballs: The New One panel.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Tweety gets the third degree in final Coyote vs. Acme trailer
Also, the full trailer for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil features a likable everyman.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Watch orcas ram a sunfish so hard it explodes
“We think this may help younger orcas feed more easily, or it could also just be for fun.”
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Clayface trailer leans into the body horror
“The people I trusted betrayed me. The justice system failed me.”
Jennifer Ouellette
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Sony releases one last trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day
“Maybe that’s my responsibility, to live alone with the truth.”
Jennifer Ouellette
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Let Tom Hiddleston be your guide to Pompeii’s final day
NatGeo’s Pompeii: Out of Time fuses historical fact and imagination to bring city’s last 24 hours to life.
Jennifer Ouellette
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The first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday is finally here
“Something’s coming. Something we may not be able to deter.”
Jennifer Ouellette
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Troubling new details emerge on diabetes ouster controversy
American Diabetes Association blocked publication of op-ed articles so the authors posted them as a preprint.
Jennifer Ouellette
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In memoriam: 7 of our favorite Sam Neill films
The actor, who starred in 1993’s Jurassic Park, died Monday in Sydney, Australia, at the age of 78.
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These painted e-tattoos could be the future of wearable biosensors
Conductive ink is painted directly onto the skin in colorful custom designs, drying into working electrodes.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Solution to Feynman’s reverse sprinkler puzzle also applies to “silly sprinklers”
New study confirms 2024 “momentum flux theory” on how angular momentum of water flows drives rotation.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Tom Cruise is utterly transformed in Digger trailer
“If we can’t control the force of nature, at least we can control the narrative.”
Jennifer Ouellette
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Check out the first images of Quest shipwreck
The Quest shipwreck is in worse shape than expected, but it has turned into a thriving marine ecosystem.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Conspiracies and regrets abound in Dune: Part Three trailer
“You promised me that you would never take power in your name.”
Jennifer Ouellette
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125
TikTok users don’t have as much agency over their FYPs as they think
The “not interested” feature is your friend, but users must intentionally and constantly curate their FYPs
Jennifer Ouellette
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Dragonflies maneuver like fighter pilots
Male dragonflies’ dramatic aerial combat maneuvers emerge from relatively simple vision-based rules.
Jennifer Ouellette
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56
Review: Supergirl is not the disaster its low box office suggests
It’s a pretty good movie, but it needed to be a great movie to thrive in an oversaturated superhero market.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Superworms could replace beetles for cleaning skeletal remains
An optimal ratio of 10-15 grams of larvae per gram of specimen minimized cleaning time with no bone damage.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Ithaca’s king defies the gods in final The Odyssey trailer
“You gods don’t speak in ways we understand.”
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June research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed
Also, the science of poop’s distinctive shape, boron buckyballs, and the secret to a soccer feint.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Wildwood featurette lifts the veil on building its stop-motion world
Director Travis Knight is also the creative mind behind 2016’s Oscar-nominated Kubo and the Two Strings.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Why did this journal retract two 1940s papers by Max Planck? [UPDATED]
Clicking on the links now reveals blank pages and empty PDFs. “Intellectually, it’s not acceptable.”
Jennifer Ouellette
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Sony releases trailer for Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun
Tonally, the trailer gives strong vibes akin to the director’s 2016 feature Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
Jennifer Ouellette
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How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots
Sci-fi author/tech journalist Cory Doctorow on his new book, The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Review: Widow’s Bay is a boldly original take on comedic horror
An eminently binge-able series that honors classic horror tropes while reinventing them in surprising ways.
Jennifer Ouellette
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Hulk, Punisher join Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer
Peter Parker to Bruce Banner: “I didn’t know you could get that big.”
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