Marlisse Silver Sweeney

Marlisse Silver Sweeney is a freelance journalist based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Marlisse Silver Sweeney is a freelance journalist based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Her writing has been published in print and online across North America, including in The Atlantic, Salon, The Daily Beast, The Columbia Journalism Review and The American Lawyer. When not typing, she can be found teaching public speaking and business writing at The University of British Columbia.

Coal power plant

World leaders announce goal of fossil fuel freedom by 2100 at UN Climate Change conference

Big changes came at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany. G7 leaders, including those from historically reluctant Japan and Canada, have agreed to call for a full decarbonization of the world's economy by 2100.

World leaders announce goal of fossil fuel freedom by 2100 at UN Climate Change conference
Jerry Seinfeld

Why comedians are refusing to put on shows on college campuses

Why comedians are refusing to put on shows on college campuses
Scientist works on vaccine

Repurposing drugs: How old vaccines are finding new uses

Repurposing drugs: How old vaccines are finding new uses
Casts of the jaws of Australopithecus deyiremeda

How a new fossil discovery changes the perceived evolutionary path for humans

How a new fossil discovery changes the perceived evolutionary path for humans
Beefsteak tomato

Why your beefsteak tomatoes are getting beefier

Why your beefsteak tomatoes are getting beefier
Keystone XL protests

Even protesting the Keystone XL pipeline could land you on an FBI watch list

Environmental activism may be enough to land you on an FBI watch list. New documents demonstrate how investigators classified Keystone XL protesters.

Even protesting the Keystone XL pipeline could land you on an FBI watch list
Coal in West Virginia

Appalachia is being hammered by the fall of coal

With coal generating less than 40 percent of electricity in the country today, miners are in mourning. Mass lay-offs have become weekly news and residents in Central Appalachia, an area once rich with opportunity, don't know what to do next.

Appalachia is being hammered by the fall of coal
Sunscreen being applied

Don't forget, wear sunscreen. Why SPF is more important than ever

New research suggests a quarter of your skin cells may have already mutated, making you one step closer to getting skin cancer. What can be done to prevent further damage?

Don't forget, wear sunscreen. Why SPF is more important than ever
An agriculturist prepares to plant "Golden Rice" seedlings at a laboratory of the International Rice Research Institute in Los Banos, Laguna.

Forget chemotherapy — try some genetically modified lettuce to fight your colon cancer

Genetically modified foods are a major political issue, but what if scientists told you they could cure cancer? New research suggests that inserting specific genes known to fight cancer into plant material could be an effective tool to eradicate the disease in certain people.

Forget chemotherapy — try some genetically modified lettuce to fight your colon cancer
A mock-up of an atomic waste barrel is pictured at the entrance of the annual meeting of German utility giant E.ON in Essen on May 3, 2012.

‘It’s worse than any site I’ve been to:’ radioactivity and a Missouri neighborhood

An underground waste dump on fire is rapidly approaching the site of a landfill with radioactive waste in a small town in Missouri. Environmental activists say the results could be disastrous. Childhood cancers in the area are already on the rise, so why isn't anyone doing anything about it?

‘It’s worse than any site I’ve been to:’ radioactivity and a Missouri neighborhood
DJ Jazzy Jeff speaks at an event where hip-hop DJs Grandwizzard Theodore, Grandmixer DXT and Grandmaster Flash are inducted into Guitar Center's RockWalk in Los Angeles on March 6, 2014.

Science crunched Billboard's charts to determine music's most revolutionary year. It was 1991.

Evolutionary biologists have been using big data and statistics to track the musical revolutions over the past 50 years and the results are surprising. The new research demonstrates that The Beatles may not have been as important to pop culture as previously suggested.

Science crunched Billboard's charts to determine music's most revolutionary year. It was 1991.
The container ship MSC Tomoko Panama in the Santa Barbara Channel in 2009. Ships like these pose deadly threats of pollution and collision to blue whales in the area.

How do you save the whales? Slow down the ships

California's blue whale population is making a comeback, but it still has to contend with the threat of big container ships that cross whales' feeding grounds on the way to the ports of Los Angeles. But just by slowing down, ships can dramatically reduce whale strikes — and pollution as well.

How do you save the whales? Slow down the ships
Adam Sandler with direction Jason Reitman at the premiere of thier movie, "Men, Women & Children," Los Angeles on September 30, 2014.

Adam Sandler shows how not to make a comedy about Native Americans

Native American actors on the set of Adam Sandler's new movie say the Western spoof was a vehicle for racist jokes and demeaning stereotypes. But it could have been embraced by the Native community had Native writers been in on the project from the start.

Adam Sandler shows how not to make a comedy about Native Americans
Former astronaut Mark Kelly, left, stands across from his brother, Scott Kelly, the current commander of the International Space Station.

A study of astronaut twins will give NASA some key genetic insight

Scott and Mark Kelly, like many twins, are taking part in a genetic study to see how environment affects them differently. There's one key twist, though: Scott is commanding the International Space Station, and NASA hopes to see what his yearlong mission might do to his genes.

A study of astronaut twins will give NASA some key genetic insight
An orca whale breaching off the coast of British Columbia, Canada.

Noisy waters are bad news for the orcas of the Pacific Northwest

The waters of the Pacific Northwest are busy and noisy, which is bad news for orcas. The endangered whales are having to "yell" to make their calls heard over all the marine traffic, which means more energy used, more food needed and even more stress on the orca population.

Noisy waters are bad news for the orcas of the Pacific Northwest