Juli Berwald is a freelance science writer based in Austin, Texas, whose work has appeared in National Geographic, among other publications. She began her study of ocean sciences in college, starting her work in the field by scrubbing lab equipment at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Her studies took her to California, where she spent months at a time on research cruises in the Pacific. Love took her to Texas (and away from the ocean), where she recently completed her first book, Spineless, about jellyfish and the health of the oceans.

In this episode Juli talks about her work as a freelance writer and how she transitioned from post-doctoral work to writing textbooks, articles for popular magazines, and eventually her first book. She also discusses technological developments that have made her work possible, particularly Skype and several pieces of software that she pairs with it, allowing her to connect with researchers all over the globe. Her experiences remind us that with a little ingenuity and the right tools we can find solutions that make work we never imagined possible a reality.