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Maddie Bender on Muck Rack

Maddie Bender

Verified
(She/Her)
Honolulu
As seen in: CNN, CNN en Español, MSN, The New York Times, Yahoo Entertainment, Yahoo News, National Geographic, WBZ-TV (Boston, MA), WIRED Magazine, Fast Company and
science pixie dream girl @wearehpr | co-founder @sequencermag | work in @nytimes @thedailybeast @sciam @motherboard @smithsonianmag et al. | semper scrutans

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Maddie Bender’s Biography

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Maddie Bender is a science, public health, and technology journalist.

Reporting, writing, fact-checking, and audio producing are all within my wheelhouse. My work has appeared in STAT, Scientific American, VICE, Smithsonian Magazine, Men’s Health, Popular Science, Inverse, Massive Science, and others, and it has been recognized by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and national radio. I was a 2021 AAAS Mass Media Fellow and the 2020 winner of New York Times columnist Nick Kristof’s annual…

Maddie Bender’s Journalist Portfolio

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Opinion | When Your Sexuality Is Against the Law

Opinion | When Your Sexuality Is Against the Law

Even in African countries that have decriminalized homosexuality, life is not easy for gay people.

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VR Could Completely Transform Mental Health-if We're Ready

VR Could Completely Transform Mental Health-if We're Ready

Had I known I would be facing off in a virtual reality competition, I would've worn better shoes. Instead, I …

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How one architect's radical ideas about nature changed American cities forever

How one architect's radical ideas about nature changed American cities forever

For those of us who did the majority of our growing up in upper Manhattan, it's not hyperbolic to say that Ne…

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Are These Chimpanzees Using Insects as Medicine?

Are These Chimpanzees Using Insects as Medicine?

Researchers observed chimps in Gabon applying insects to wounds-and it's raising big questions about animal a…

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As 'test to stay' gears up nationwide, Massachusetts' 'rocky' rollout raises questions

As 'test to stay' gears up nationwide, Massachusetts' 'rocky' rollout raises questions

Massachusetts is drawing praise and even imitation for its "test-to-stay" approach to keep kids in school dur…

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Gen Z Is Developing Unexplained Tics After Going Online, And Doctors Are Concerned

Gen Z Is Developing Unexplained Tics After Going Online, And Doctors Are Concerned

Internationally, pandemic-related stressors and social media are converging in an 'epidemic within a pandemic…

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Articles

Army sergeant fights ‘tooth and nail’ to return after Trump’s trans military ban

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By Maddie Bender Verified
| Bytemarks Cafe (Podcast)
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda has filed a congressional inquiry on behalf of an Army sergeant from Schofield Barracks. Her name is Clara Davis, and she believes she was the first soldier to be involuntarily discharged from the military because of President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender troops. Sgt. David enlisted in 2019 and was deployed during the Afghanistan withdrawal and provided security for refugees in Bahrain.
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The Conversation: Hurricane insurance; Fighting the transgender military ban

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By Catherine Cruz Verified, Maddie Bender Verified
| Bytemarks Cafe (Podcast)
Audio will be added after the show. The Conversation airs weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon on HPR-1. HPR’s Audrey McAvoy reports on hurricane insurance and how much home insurance policies actually protect | Full Story Honolulu Civil Beat’s John Hill investigates the prevalent use of methamphetamine in Hawaiʻi’s drug scene | Full Story Army Sgt.
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Scientists unlock the 'ancient DNA’ of a long-lost Lānaʻi bird species

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By Maddie Bender Verified
| Bytemarks Cafe (Podcast)
Birds like the nēnē, ʻiʻiwi and manu-o-Kū are already familiar across the Hawaiian islands — but have you ever heard of the Lānaʻi hookbill? Only one specimen of the now-extinct honeycreeper remains in a museum collection, and for over a century it has puzzled scientists. The remnants of the bird’s DNA was thought to be too degraded to salvage, but using new techniques in what’s known as “ancient DNA,” scientists at the Smithsonian have finally cracked the code to the Lānaʻi hookbill.
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