Mandy Nguyễn
I tell stories that get people to care more about science, the natural world, and each other.
What I Do
Reporting and Research
Rigorous reporting across science, health, and culture. Interviewing expert sources, interpreting data and scientific research, and fact-checking under deadline to deliver work including audio features, scripts, and web articles.
Podcast Production
End-to-end podcast production: booking, interviewing, script writing, and mixing on Pro Tools. I specialize in deep-dive podcasts across a range of formats, from two-way conversations to non-narrated segments. Webby and Amby award-recognized work.
Story Editing
Shaping story arcs, developing scripts, and editorial consulting for podcast and video. I work with producers, hosts, and brands at any stage, from the first concept through the final draft.
Selected Work
Listen on Spotify ↗
More Work
Unexplainable, Vox
Producer · Reporter · Host
Pinky and the (lab-grown) Brain↗
It's not great to be a lab rat. And it turns out, lab rats might not be that great for science either. Could the future be little lab-grown brain clumps?
Unexplainable, Vox
Producer · Reporter · Host
The Orcanizing↗
Over the last few years, orcas have been targeting boats, often leaving them stranded at sea. Are these orcas trying to attack humans, or is there something more mysterious going on?
Unexplainable, Vox
Producer · Reporter · Host
Who Let the Wolves In?↗
Dogs were the first domesticated animal in history, emerging from wolves some 20,000 years ago. But how did wolves become dogs? To find the answer, scientists have to play with a lot of puppies.
Unexplainable, Vox
Producer · Co-reporter · Host
Salamander Search Party↗
One of the world's most biodiverse aquifers is full of strange, blind creatures that have evolved in isolation for millions of years. But one is missing.
Future Perfect, Vox
Reporter · Writer
Should we put pig organs in humans? We asked an ethicist.↗
Xenotransplantation raises major moral questions — and not just about the pigs.
Forum, KQED
Producer
After Siege, Americans Grapple With Questions of Accountability↗
The siege of the U.S. Capitol by Pro-Trump extremists has many grappling with questions of accountability and justice.
About
Mandy Nguyen is an award-winning journalist and producer with over five years of experience in national media and public radio – specializing in stories about science, the environment, and culture.
She reported and produced at Vox's Unexplainable, a narrative podcast about scientific mysteries that has grown to over 500,000 monthly downloads and won a Webby, an Ambie, and two Kavli Awards. Before Vox, she came up in public radio: reporting from Alaska's mountains and coastal towns at KTOO, and producing KQED's flagship daily show Forum. She also has a secret past in video, having produced for Jubilee Media back when it had under a million subscribers and a scrappy team of eight.
She's currently freelancing, working with outlets like the Greater Good Science Center, PRX, and Future Tense to create rigorously researched, thoughtful stories. She's most drawn to stories that make us reconsider our relationship to the natural world, to each other, and to ourselves.
Fellowships & Residencies
- National Science-Health-Environment Reporting Fellow2024
- AIR New Voices Fellow2023
- UnionDocs PodPod Resident2022