Laura Mgrdichian-West is a freelance science writer working for Brookhaven National Laboratory, a sprawling research facility run by the U.S. Department of Energy. She writes for Brookhaven’s National Synchrotron Light Source II, a state-of-the-art machine that produces x-rays used to study myriad samples, from soil to superconductors. Mgrdichian-West holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Stony Brook University and lives in southwest Virginia with her husband, four children, four cats, and eight dogs. They raise cattle, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and horses on their 67-acre farm.