Virginia Morell is the author of the critically acclaimed Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind’s Beginnings. A longtime contributor to National Geographic and correspondent for the journal Science, Morell writes frequently on animal behavior. Her forthcoming Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures will be published in 2013.
Mary Roach is the author of the New York Times best sellers Packing for Mars, Stiff, Bonk, and Spook. Packing for Mars is a New York Times Editor’s Choice and was chosen as the San Francisco 2011 One City, One Book selection. Stiff has been translated into 22 languages, and Spook was a New York Times Notable Book. In addition to National Geographic, Roach has written for Wired, New Scientist, the New York Times Book Review, and Outside. She is a member of the Mars Institute’s Advisory Board, the guest editor of the 2011 Best American Science and Nature Writing, and a winner of the American Engineering Societies’ Engineering Journalism Award, in a category for which, let’s be honest, she was the sole entrant. More at www.maryroach.net.
Peter Miller is a senior editor at National Geographic and has served as a writer and editor at the magazine for more than 25 years. He lives in Reston, Virginia, with his wife. To learn more about swarm theory, read his book, The Smart Swarm: How Understanding Flocks, Schools, and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making, and Getting Things Done.