What is Ultracold?
Ultracold is a longform newsletter that publishes on a monthly schedule. It reflects my experience as a queer, non-binary, immigrant physicist and science writer living, learning and working in New York.
Longform essays publish on the last Monday of each month, a media and diet roundup publishes mid-month.
Who is Karmela?
I am a science writer living in Queens, NY. I hold a Ph. D. in theoretical physics and my popular science writing has been published in Scientific American, Slate, WIRED, MIT Technology Review, Quanta Magazine, Physics World, Massive Science and The Xylom. Currently, I am a full-time physics reporter at New Scientist. Previously, I was an Assistant Professor at Bard High School Early College.
My first book, Entangled States: A Life According to Physics will be published by Beacon Press in 2025.
You can connect with me on Twitter or Instagram.
A bit of context…
I started Ultracold in July of 2017 as a minor self-indulgence. It was meant to keep me engaged and honest, and push me to verbalize and work through thoughts and feelings I may have otherwise had a hard time confronting. I also just wanted a space to whine, go on and on about whatever I was cooking and baking, and to pretend that I could be a writer alongside working on my Ph. D. Most of those things are still true. But I did also finish my Ph. D. and find, first, a full-time teaching job, and then a full-time writing job. Ultracold - referring to my work in the area of physics near absolute zero, many freezing places I’ve lived, first impressions I’ve made with my incurable resting-bitch-face, and this writing project all at the same time - has followed me around and helped me grow in unexpected and unprecedented ways.
Writing these letters is among the things I most enjoy doing and one that I feel the most ownership over. I commit a lot of time to it and am beyond grateful and flattered every time I see a new reader. Thank you for being here!
