Ed Yong

Edmund Soon-Weng Yong (born 17 December 1981) is a Malaysian-born British science journalist. His blog Not Exactly Rocket Science is published as part of the National Geographic Phenomena blog network. Previously his work has been published by Nature, Scientific American, the BBC, Slate, The Guardian, The Times, New Scientist, Wired, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. He has been a permanent staff member of The Atlantic since 2015.

Edmund Soon-Weng Yong was born 17 December 1981 in Malaysia. Yong emigrated to the UK aged 13 in 1994 and became a British citizen in 2005.

Yong was awarded Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Natural Sciences (Zoology) from the University of Cambridge in 2002. He completed postgraduate study at University College London (UCL) where he was awarded a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in 2005 on the biochemistry of resolvases.

Yong's approach to popular science writing has been described as "the future of science news", and he has received numerous awards for his work. Yong received the National Academies Communication Award from the National Academy of Sciences in 2010 in recognition of his online journalism, then part of Discover's blog group. In the same year he received three awards from ResearchBlogging.org, which supports online science journalism focused on covering research that has already been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals which can be adapted for a wider public audience. In 2012 he received the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Stephen White Award. His blog received the first Best Science Blog award from the Association of British Science Writers in 2014.

Yong's interactions with other science bloggers and engagement with commenters on his own blog have served as case studies for academic work in media studies.

In September 2015, Yong joined The Atlantic as a science reporter. He lives in London and Washington, D.C.