If You Love Science, You Should Read This Magazine

It started with a Kickstarter campaign. A couple of veteran science/technology journalists, Jim Giles and Bobbie Johnson, wanted a place where people could do investigative, long-form sci/tech writing. But most general interest magazines had cut down their feature sections, while science magazines didn't want to touch on the social and cultural implications of the work covered in their pages. So Giles and Johnson decided to launch a digital magazine called Matter. They asked people on Kickstarter to donate $50 thousand to launch the magazine. They wound up with over $130 thousand. People are hungry for good science writing that's relevant to their lives.

At last, the magazine has launched. Last month, Matter premiered with an edgy, fascinating article from Anil Ananthaswamy. It's about "body integrity identity disorder," a condition where people want to remove perfectly healthy limbs — and are willing to pay underground surgeons to do it. New developments in neuroscience shed light on why a small but significant number of people suffer from BIID. Emotionally engaging and packed with scientific insight, the article is only $0.99 for your tablet or reader of choice.

Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the article:








Needless to say, the article has inspired a lot of passionate responses. Matter has met this head-on, organizing a two-part Q/A with the author so that people can ask him questions about everything from what happened to the subject of his story, to whether or not it's problematic to write about these issues. This move is a fascinating comment on how accountability works when you use social media to propagate investigative journalism. Because author Ananthaswamy has become accountable not just to his subjects and the scientific community he's covered, but also his readers/funders, who have questions of their own.

At a San Francisco event celebrating the launch of Matter, I asked magazine co-founder Bobbie Johnson about what's coming next. Expect one article per month, covering everything from the political issues around environmental cleanup, to the anatomy of an elaborate digital scam arising from shady paycheck loan companies. This is a magazine that understands how science and technology intersect with our everyday lives, as well as our laws and social institutions. I'm looking forward to reading more.

Check out Matter on the web, on Facebook, and on their blog.