Emma Bryce is a freelance journalist and editor based in London. Her work has appeared in publications including The Guardian, WIRED Magazine UK, Audubon Magazine, TED Education, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, and Yale360. She’s written about everything from birds and oil rigs, to wave farms, insect consumption, and egg thieves. On her Guardian blog, World on a Plate, she also covers a range of issues relating to food and the environment. For TED Education, she edits scripts that get turned into animated videos.
Emma Bryce
Freelance writer
From this contributor
Advancing early interventions for autism
Some therapies use play and other activities to reinforce skills that autistic children often find challenging. Trials show these methods can change a child’s trajectory for the better, but the evidence base remains thin.
How the striatum is linked to autism
The repetitive behaviors seen in autism may originate in the striatum, a cluster of neurons involved with initiating and executing movements.
Repetitive behaviors and autism
New thinking about repetitive behaviors suggests they provide stress relief and fun for autistic people; as such, these behaviors deserve careful management.
How autism’s definition has changed over time
Don’t judge this book by its decidedly dull cover: Across its pages, some of the most dramatic changes in the history of autism have played out. This short animation chronicles how a diagnostic manual has defined and redefined autism over the years.
How autism’s definition has changed over time
By
Emma Bryce, Mengxin Li
9 May 2018 | 3 min watch
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Some facial expressions are less reflexive than previously thought
A countenance such as a grimace activates many of the same cortical pathways as voluntary facial movements.
Some facial expressions are less reflexive than previously thought
A countenance such as a grimace activates many of the same cortical pathways as voluntary facial movements.
By
Natalia Mesa
8 January 2026 | 5 min read
Cracking the neural code for emotional states
Rather than act as a simple switchboard for innate behaviors, the hypothalamus encodes an animal's internal state, which influences behavior.
Cracking the neural code for emotional states
Rather than act as a simple switchboard for innate behaviors, the hypothalamus encodes an animal's internal state, which influences behavior.
By
Natalia Mesa
8 January 2026 | 8 min read
Alex Maier argues that a scientific explanation of consciousness requires grounding in formalized mathematics
When it comes to discovering laws of nature for consciousness similar to those in physics, Maier argues that integrated information theory is the only game in town.
Alex Maier argues that a scientific explanation of consciousness requires grounding in formalized mathematics
When it comes to discovering laws of nature for consciousness similar to those in physics, Maier argues that integrated information theory is the only game in town.
By
Paul Middlebrooks
7 January 2026 | 1 min read