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Natalia
Pasternak
Microbiologist, Writer, Science Communicator
Natalia Pasternak is a microbiologist, science writer and communicator. She works to promote scientific thinking, fight misinformation, and increase vaccine uptake, with a focus on evidence-based public policies. She is a professor at Columbia University and at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) in Brazil, a columnist for The Skeptic magazine (UK), and president of the Question of Science Institute (IQC). With over 300 science outreach articles published, she is an award-winning author and was named one of the world's most influential women by the BBC (2021) and The Jerusalem Post (2022).
Publications & Articles
Higher education does not teach critical thinking by default
Without specific classes, students may leave college still unable to separate science from nonsense.
Fear of biotechnology threatens efforts to save Brazil’s pinto beans
The combination of rice and beans is the trademark of Brazilian cuisine, with the “carioca” type of...
Science Museums and Critical Thinking
Natalia Pasternak reflects on museums, science and critical thinking.
Viewpoint: Common pesticides unsafe at any dose? Here’s what’s wrong with Brazilian researcher’s ‘unsupported’ claims
One of Brazil’s largest newspapers, O Estado de Sao Paulo, created a furor in the scientific community after...
The science of The Last of Us: should we fear a fungal zombie pandemic?
In the premiere of “The Last of Us,” a TV series based on the computer game of the same name, a fungus causes...
Institute Question of Science in Brazil: from fighting pseudoscience to advising governments
In January 2021, the then governor of the State of Sao Paulo – the wealthiest state in Brazil, and home of...
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