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Kat McGowan

Freelance; contributing editor, Discover magazine

Kat McGowan writes about health, medicine and science for magazines including Nautilus and Quanta, and is a contributing editor at Discover. She lives in New York City and California.

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Written by Kat McGowan

A close-up of a car headlight with illuminated yellow and white lights against a dark background.

essayStories and literature

Silicon phoenix

A gifted child, an adventure, a dark time, and then … a pivot? How Silicon Valley rewrote America’s redemption narrative

Kat McGowan

Black and white photo of a man and woman wearing berets, both smiling with cigarettes in their mouths against a textured wall.

essayEthics

Would telepathy help?

Will the next generation of telepathy machines make us closer, or are there unforeseen dangers in the melding of minds?

Kat McGowan

Black-and-white photo of a man and a boy wearing cowboy hats and flannel shirts, walking away on a dirt path in a rural setting.

essayChildhood and adolescence

Brilliant impersonators

We prize originality, yet humans are natural-born copycats and only good imitators survive. Is it time to celebrate the rip-off?

Kat McGowan