An award-winning freelance journalist, I focus on the environment, natural sciences, education, health and travel. My stories have appeared in more than 30 newspapers and magazines.
Home buyers can find if climate change will affect the value of their dream home
Home buyers can now find out whether climate change will lessen or wipe out the value of the home they’re interested in by predicting the costs of various climate-related scenarios. The story describes a range of tools consumers can use to assess the risks.
Stranger than Fiction
A mammal that lays eggs and secretes venom, the peculiar platypus has been fascinating scientists since the 19th century but faces an uncertain future.
Penguin parade
Despite crowds of city dwellers and tourists, little penguins are thriving in the rather unlikely surroundings of suburban Melbourne. Linda Vergnani visits the colony and speaks to Australian penguin experts.
Are home insurance calculators accurate?
It's estimated that 80% of property owners are underinsured, according to Campbell Fuller, a spokesperson for the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).
In some cases property owners underinsure to save money on premiums, and in many cases they don't believe or fully understand the risks that the insurer assesses.
Here are some tips for creating accurate online calculations to make sure you get the right level of home insurance:
Choose a c...
Super bug, super warrior / Monash Magazine
On a mission to stop the 'carnage' caused by bacterial superbugs, Professor Jian Li says 'My research can potentially save millions of people's lives and clinicians badly need the pharmacological information for their patients.'
The train that killed my brother
A long-form story on my search to find out how my brother landed on the railway tracks while commuting on Cape Town's dangerous, chaotic trains.
Neurological conditions - web content for Cerebral Palsy Alliance
Researched and wrote 22,000 words of content on a range of neurological conditions for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance website.
In pursuit of an African queen
Seeking out a legendary leopard film star and her cubs in a remote region of the Okavango swamps.
Wonderland around Whitehorse / Luxury Travel
Exploring the wilderness around Whitehorse, Linda Vergnani travels by horse, canoe, quad bike and plane and encounters lots of bears.
The complex relationship between national security and nature / ABC Environment
The battle to preserve the environment, wildlife and biodiversity affects national security in a multitude of ways, according to speakers at the IUCN World Parks Congress in Sydney.
Clear vision from the end of the Earth / Nature Research
Seismologist Martin Reyners is "quietly awed that 23 kilometres below him the Australian Plate is slowly colliding with the Pacific Plate, a process that could trigger an earthquake at any moment.
“It's a wonderful laboratory for studying tectonic processes,” says the researcher, of his Lower Hutt workplace, near Wellington in New Zealand.
World Parks Congress aims to protect a third of oceans / ABC Environment
The once-a-decade World Parks Congress concluded in Sydney with a new target to reserve 30 per cent of the world's marine areas in parks where fishing and mining is banned.
South Africa fine dining: From the seed to the plate / The Sydney Morning Herald
Two restored farms are changing the culinary landscape, writes Linda Vergnani.
The Cape crusaders / Qantas the Australian Way
Designer Haldane Martin is relaxing on his giant millipede: a coiling grey, multi-legged creature with about 30 segments, set under a lamp....
Muscles to machines - cutting labour drudgery in Africa / Partners magazine
Drawing lessons from Australia, Bangladesh and India, a new project in Africa will help mechanise conservation agriculture and relieve women of exhausting manual labour.