A contributor to National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, and many other publications, Jennifer Ackerman is also the author of Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body and Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity. The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including a 2004 NEA Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, articles and essays have been included in Best American Science Writing (2005), The Nature Reader (1996) and Best Nature Writing (1996), among others.