
Thea Baldrick
D. Thea is a contributing science writer with a B.S. Biology with a Concentration in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a B.A. Comparative Literature from the University of Cincinnati. For fun, she spends time inhabiting the world of dinosaurs with family members. She prefers to be the Brachiosaurus.
Articles by Thea Baldrick

From its first introduction in the Caribbean to its catastrophic reach into the indigenous communities in Alaska, smallpox slew the New World’s native populations with horrific efficiency.

The Irish Potato Famine was a disaster of unprecedented proportions. From 1845 to 1849, a minimum of one million people died.
The Irish Potato Famine was a disaster of unprecedented proportions. From 1845 to 1849, a minimum of one million people died.

The confessional movement, led by the poets W.D. Snodgrass, Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath, began in April 1959. Its influence on current culture is immeasurable.
The confessional movement, led by the poets W.D. Snodgrass, Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath, began in April 1959. Its influence on current culture is immeasurable.

Charles Darwin was well aware that both he and his family would be lambasted because of On the Origin of Species; so what drove him to write it at all?
Charles Darwin was well aware that both he and his family would be lambasted because of On the Origin of Species; so what drove him to write it at all?

Despite being laced with magical elements, Anne Sexton’s fairy tale poems create a world not so very different from our own.
Despite being laced with magical elements, Anne Sexton’s fairy tale poems create a world not so very different from our own.

Anne Sexton’s work is intensely personal poetry, rich with shocking imagery, deep, eerie melancholia, and constant, insistent explorations into language and life.

As a leading woman in the confessional movement, Anne Sexton’s poetry connected to many people, but running parallel to her art was a life fraught with constant threats of disconnection.
As a leading woman in the confessional movement, Anne Sexton’s poetry connected to many people, but running parallel to her art was a life fraught with constant threats of disconnection.

Modern DNA analysis maps the interwoven kinships and physical obstacles experienced by the young Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun during his short life.

The advanced medicine of ancient Egypt included effective wound care, contraceptives, more drugs than a modern pharmacy, accurate diagnoses of heart disease, and more.
The advanced medicine of ancient Egypt included effective wound care, contraceptives, more drugs than a modern pharmacy, accurate diagnoses of heart disease, and more.

Ancient DNA may reveal the source of the devastating epidemic that destroyed the indigenous peoples of Mexico – a salmonella outbreak.

Mounting evidence suggests that the plague may have initiated Akhenaten’s conversion to monotheism when he became pharaoh of Egypt in 1341 BCE.
Mounting evidence suggests that the plague may have initiated Akhenaten’s conversion to monotheism when he became pharaoh of Egypt in 1341 BCE.

In an effort to stem the plague sweeping through his land, Mursili II, king of the Hittites, issued a series of wrenching prayers to an apparently deaf pantheon of gods.
In an effort to stem the plague sweeping through his land, Mursili II, king of the Hittites, issued a series of wrenching prayers to an apparently deaf pantheon of gods.