Vox Media’s The Verge Launches Science Section, Announces Katie Drummond as Editor
New York, New York — April 17, 2013 — Technology and culture publication The Verge launched a new section today called “Verge Science,” focused on exploring the biggest ideas, the boldest research, and the most astonishing discoveries in all of science, from medicine and space exploration to physics and the environment.
Katie Drummond will be joining The Verge as the editor of Verge Science. Drummond previously worked as a reporter for Danger Room at Wired covering military research, and also as a reporter for The Daily and AOL News, where she covered breaking science and health news and contributed regular features and investigative stories. She has also written for The New Republic, New York Magazine, Popular Science, The Fix and other publications. Drummond will coordinate science coverage from The Verge’s own staff of reporters, as well as contributions from veteran science writers including Carl Zimmer, Brandon Keim, Ed Yong, and Victoria Schlesinger.
“Since our launch, we’ve been constantly developing and expanding the voice of The Verge, and it’s always been clear that a focus on science would be a big part of what we do,” Verge Editor-in-Chief Joshua Topolsky said. “Katie is the perfect person to shine a light on this topic because she’s brilliant at distilling big, complex ideas into deeply satisfying stories.”
Nilay Patel, The Verge’s managing editor, said, “The Verge is all about finding sharp new angles into important stories, and our science coverage will be no different — a mix of passionate critical thinking, enthusiasm, and fun that connects with a growing audience.”
The hiring of Drummond and the launch of the section also coincides with the introduction of a new Science forum, offering The Verge’s growing community a place to discuss the biggest stories of the day with Verge writers and each other. Readers can also follow Verge Science’s coverage at the dedicated Twitter handle @vergescience or on Flipboard, where The Verge is launching a new magazine dedicated to the most important science news, reports, and features.
“We’ll deliver rigorous, thoughtful, authoritative reporting on what’s new, what’s coming next, and why it actually matters — and we’ll make room for both certifiable science geeks and casual readers to find out what inspires them,” Drummond said.
The section debuts today with an investigation into the potential risks of federal research designed to prevent a pandemic, and a Q&A with best-selling science journalist Mary Roach. Drummond introduces readers to the section in a welcome post and an original video.
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Vox Media is one of the fastest growing online publishers, focused on the sports, personal technology and gaming categories. Vox is solving the problem of developing high-value digital journalism, storytelling and brand advertising at scale. Its audiences are among the most engaged and affluent on the web. It was named Publisher of the Year by Digiday in March 2013.
SB Nation, its sports brand, boasts over 30mm users per month across 300 individually branded, fan-centric sports communities, each covering a specific professional or college team, league or sport. In November 2011, Vox Media launched The Verge, which has quickly established itself as a category leader and the fastest growing site that covers technology. In October, Vox launched Polygon, a site dedicated to news and community for fans of gaming, anchored by an all-star roster of writers. All Vox Media sites are built on Chorus, its world-class proprietary publishing platform.
The company enjoys support from leading investors including Accel Partners, Comcast Interactive Capital, Khosla Ventures and Allen & Company.