Tom Ireland is a journalist specialising in biology and nature.

Tom is an award-winning science writer, magazine editor and author. He edits The Biologist magazine and has overseen a range of other science publications, including the recently launched Unite for Nature, the magazine of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

He is a regular contributor to the monthly magazine BBC Science Focus and has also written for The Guardian/Observer, New Scientist, and BBC News. Tom speaks to and interviews hundreds of scientists a year, helping different readerships understand the wonder of nature and the power of science.

His first book, The Good Virus, was named ‘editors choice’ by The New York Times in 2023, was listed in both Waterstones’ and The Sunday Times’ best science books of 2023, and received the Royal Society of Literature’s Giles St Aubyn Award for first time writers in 2021.

‘The book that might change the world ... This is luxury-class science writing.'
TELEGRAPH

'One of the best books of any genre that I've read in 2023, this superbly-written book ... will fascinate absolutely everyone.'
FORBES

'A delight. To learn more about phages is to discover fascinating details about a hidden world.'
NATURE

UK and Commonwealth edition, published by Hodder & Stoughton

US edition, published by WW Norton

Get in touch for:

Science writing ~ copywriting ~ editing & proofreading ~ interviewing ~ science communication consulting & training

Part way through a talk on genetic engineering, Zayner pulled out a syringe apparently containing chemicals designed to trigger a genetic change in his cells associated with dramatically increased muscle mass.

 

If there’s one place you wouldn’t expect a new biotech research lab to be built, it’s slap bang in the middle of a busy London market.

 

I can feel my toes poking out of the water and my head bangs against the side now and again - annoying enough when you're having a bath, but a disturbance of epic proportions when you're in a sensory deprivation tank…

Why does it affect people so differently? Does having antibodies mean you’re immune? How can you keep your immune system in good shape?

 

From Nazi medicine to GM babies, research conducted without consent is a stain on science. But what should we do when those studies generate useful data that we can’t obtain any other way?

 

Professor Kate Jones says a woeful lack of communication between public health bodies and ecologists is failing to prevent spillover of animal diseases into human populations.