Feature Stories about Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Mark Roget, and Alexander Fleming

There’s so much to explore in the journeys of the individuals I profile in Spark. In newly published stories in National Geographic, Smithsonian and Scientific American, I delve into extraordinary moments in the the lives of Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Mark Roget, and Alexander Fleming. My story in National Geographic looks at Ma’s Bach Project and the way he uses music to advance environmental causes around the globe. In Smithsonian, I write about a trip that Roget took to the continent at the age of 23—decades before he compiled his famed thesaurus—and his subsequent escape from Napoleon’s dragnet. And for Scientific American, I spotlight Alexander Fleming’s first major discovery (hint: It wasn’t penicillin) and the importance of serendipity in science. Each one details experiences and events that I find both surprising and remarkable. Please read!