Richard studied the history of science as a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine. After grading one term paper too many, he left the academy to concentrate on his own writing—and has never looked back since. While he has written on a wide array of subjects, Richard’s enduring focus has been exploring the points where science intersects with politics, culture, and the arts. That’s the drive that animates his books, Gross America and The Next Big Thing: A History of the Boom-or-Bust Moments That Shaped the Modern World. Richard’s writing on science, medicine, and curiosities both natural and manmade has appeared in or on Mental Floss, CNN.com, The Huffington Post, and the Discover magazine blog The Crux. He has been an invited speaker at Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy and Los Angeles’ Death Salon, and he has been interviewed on NPR, Southern California Public Radio, SiriusXM, and Radio MD. You can also watch him in the season two finale of the Science Chanel series Oddities.