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Christopher Michel is a photographer, explorer, and entrepreneur whose work focuses on…
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Christopher Michel shared thisPhotographed for the The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and MedicineChristopher Michel shared thisSome career advice from 2021 medicine laureate David Julius: "If you’ve had any success in the past, you should take stock of that and realise that that will happen again, if you’re persistent, if you’re determined and you’re interested in science. I think it’s important to also relax a little bit. You have to be driven and you have to be determined and work hard, but I think emotionally you have to be relaxed and enjoy the process. I once heard Paul Nurse say when he was being interviewed on television – and I completely resonated with this – he said, sometimes things aren’t working, but you have to take joy in the experiments themselves. You should enjoy the process. Of course, you have to keep your mind on what your scientific goal is, but you should also enjoy the process and take some pride in doing experiments well and mastering new techniques because that’s the joy of the moment that gets you from place to place." Julius was awarded the medicine prize with Ardem Patapoutian "for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch." Read our full interview: https://bit.ly/4mkXUcW Photo credit: Chris Michel
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Christopher Michel reposted thisDaily things take courage - making that phone call, proposing that offer. Often, doing what you love doing comes with doing things you don't, too. But we take the steps anyway. We persist, and with that persistence, we improve what we can, one little change at a time.
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Christopher Michel reposted thisChristopher Michel reposted thisExciting announcement + opportunity to collaborate with The Long Now Foundation! Today we are launching Long Now Labs: Where Long-term Thinking Becomes Long-term Practice. Building on our history of incubating new projects and ideas: Long Now Labs will build cross-disciplinary collaborations around frontier ideas, creating tools, artifacts, and frameworks that expand humanity's capacity to navigate the unknown and preserve possibilities for future generations. Our inaugural Lab, Protocols of the Long Now, is a collaboration with the Protocol Institute. Civilizations run on protocols — including shared norms for how we keep time, store knowledge, and make decisions together. Protocols for the Long Now investigates these three aspects of civilizational durability that are being radically reshaped by frontier technologies. • Lab 001.1 – Book of Time: invites you to submit a concept for a new way of marking, experiencing, or making sense of time. • Lab 001.2 – Epistemic Cycles: seeks an individual or team to investigate historical epistemic cycles — patterns of technological disruption that result in the breakdown of a society's shared ability to discern truth. • Lab 001.3 – Interspecies Protocols: explores the protocols needed to support interspecies ecologies — the interactions between humans, nature, and synthetic intelligences. (Coming 02027, likely a course, no open call!) You can read more about these Labs and how to apply here: https://lnkd.in/eMc3acCi And visit our website here: https://lnkd.in/eaXpr7pd We are excited to see what you come up with, and please do share with folks in your network who might like to apply.
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Christopher Michel reposted thisI've been in the tech space long enough to know: good intentions without governance is a recipe for harm. As a licensed clinical psychologist who was early in building for this space, I've seen the tension firsthand. Innovation moves fast. Safety requires discipline. Most companies choose speed. Grow Therapy chose both. 🧠 💟 Their new AI Coach is designed to support clients between therapy sessions, helping them practice skills, process emotions, reflect on what they're learning. Not replacing therapy. Extending it. And here's what matters: they built this with clinician oversight woven in from the start. Multiple safety layers. Real-time quality audits. Transparency with providers so they stay informed and in control. Kevin Ramotar, Psy.D., CPHQ, Director of Clinical Product and AI, captured it perfectly: "Our AI coach was built to offer structured support between sessions, with clear boundaries, multiple safety layers, and clinician oversight. We designed it around what providers told us they needed: transparency, control, and technology that supports care without replacing clinical judgment." ✅ That's the intersection of governance and innovation done right. I'm honored to serve on the AI + Mental Health Advisory Panel alongside Ethan Goh (clinical AI research, Stanford-Harvard), Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (ethics, Duke), Valerie Hoffman (epidemiology, Johns Hopkins), and Steve Duke (strategy and insight). This is a compelling group. Serious people thinking seriously about what comes next in mental health and technology. The future looks different when you refuse to choose between doing good and doing it safely. ✨ #MentalHealth #AI #Healthcare #Governance #Innovation #TechForGood #Clinicians #ResponsibleAI #GrowTherapy #MentalHealthTech #DigitalHealth #LeadershipChristopher Michel reposted thisI've been seeing the same therapist for five years, and it's drastically improved my life. But to be honest, I still struggle to carry what happens in that hour of therapy into the other 167 hours of my week. This is a challenge we hear over and over from clients. The struggle to take what happens in the hour in therapy and apply it to the fabric of day-to-day life. The desire for support that's there not just at 9 am on a Tuesday, but at 2 am when you're lying awake and can't quiet your mind. The imperfection of trying to recall in the therapy session what you were struggling with during the week. Today, we're launching Coach, a 24/7 chat experience designed to extend the value of that one hour in therapy into the other 167 hours of your week. Coach was created specifically for mental health and to enrich your relationship with your therapist; it was built with and by licensed clinicians on our team, people who have spent their careers delivering high-quality care. Since our beta in December, more than 800,000 messages have been sent. Clients are using it to practice skills, prepare for sessions, process things they're not ready to say out loud yet, and get through hard moments in real time. Providers are using it to review client interactions from between sessions to better shape their next session together. We’re excited to build the future of care by bringing the in- and between-session moments into one connected experience, where technology strengthens the expertise and trust that providers work so hard to build. https://lnkd.in/eUyZ75HW
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Christopher Michel shared thisAboard Arktika, navigating Greenlandic ice. From above it feels simple. White forms in dark water. Clean lines. Space to move. Down at the surface it is something else. Hard edges. Hidden mass. The slow drift of things that outweigh you by orders of magnitude. A good rule, on water and off: respect what you can’t see, and give it room.
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Christopher Michel shared thisPhotographed for the The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and MedicineChristopher Michel shared thisAt the age of 23, before she’d even earned her PhD, Carol Greider made the discovery that would earn her the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Along with her supervisor and co-laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, she discovered the enzyme telomerase. At each end of a chromosome lies a protective "cap" called a telomere – telomerase is the enzyme that creates it.
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Christopher Michel shared thisThe night opens and something inside it is still becoming. The Orion Nebula, a stellar nursery 1,300 light years away.
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Christopher Michel shared thisThe Arctic sharpens everything. Light, distance, consequence. I photographed Benjamin Hardman aboard a research vessel in the Svalbard archipelago, one of the fastest warming regions on Earth. Out there, change is visible. Ice thinning, glaciers retreating, systems shifting in real time. Ben is one of the leading Arctic photographers working today. Originally from the United Kingdom, he now lives in Iceland, close to the environments that define his work. His images come from long stretches in the field under harsh conditions that demand precision and restraint. The Arctic is not distant. It is connected to all of us. Ben’s work makes that harder to ignore. I made this portrait as part of my New Heroes project, which is about spending time with the people shaping our future and trying to see them clearly, as they are. More about Ben here: https://lnkd.in/gmV87ssE
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Christopher Michel shared thisNancy Hopkins didn’t set out to become a symbol. She set out to do good science. Nancy trained as a molecular biologist at a time when the field was just beginning to unlock how genes shape life. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she helped pioneer the use of zebrafish as a model organism, opening a path to study cancer and development in ways that were faster, clearer, and more revealing. But her impact didn’t stop at the lab bench. In the 1990s, she did something deceptively simple. She measured space. Office space, lab space, resources. What she found was not subtle. Women faculty at MIT were systematically given less. Less room, less funding, less recognition. Not because of policy, but because of accumulated bias that no one had fully confronted. She didn’t let it stay invisible. Nancy brought the data forward. Carefully. Relentlessly. The result was one of the first institutional acknowledgments of gender bias in science at a major research university. It forced a reckoning. Not just at MIT, but across academia. There’s a particular kind of courage in that. Not loud. Not performative. Just precise and unyielding in the face of something that most people would rather not see. Her scientific work changed how we study disease. Her persistence changed the conditions under which science gets done. Both matter. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gt-iFaXd I made this portrait as part of my New Heroes project, which is about spending time with the people shaping our future and trying to see them clearly, as they are.
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Tina Mosetis true!
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked thisHow to photograph Hany Farid, the foremost authority on AI image manipulation for this incredibly well-reported piece by Kai Kupferschmidt in Science Magazine? We put him in a mirror maze in San Francisco--inviting the viewer to decide which Hany is real! Huge props to photographer Christie Hemm Klok for her great work on this. She made "a photographer's nightmare" a dream result -- https://lnkd.in/dBJFkrQa
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked thisWe’re still below the Icefall. Hi from Nepal 🇳🇵 I’m currently in Everest Base Camp, in the early phase of my expedition — working toward a no-oxygen summit attempt later this season. Until now, we haven’t been able to climb higher than Everest Base Camp (5,364 meters). We’ve been waiting for the Khumbu Icefall to open, as a huge block of ice has been blocking the route to Camp 1. But recently, things have started to move — and the route is now opening again. That’s part of being here. The mountain decides, and we have to listen. The Icefall is the most dangerous part of the climb, so there’s no reason to rush. Safety always comes first. Since I couldn’t go higher on Everest, I went to Lobuche East (6,119 meters) and spent two nights on the summit as part of my acclimatization. I had also summited Lobuche earlier in the expedition, on April 18, as part of my preparation. This is especially important because I’m aiming to climb Everest without oxygen. For that to be possible, everything has to align — the weather, the timing, and how my body responds. The plan is still to aim for a later summit window, when the mountain is usually quieter and the weather is warmer. For now, it’s about staying patient, staying ready, and accepting the waiting as part of the expedition. The summit will still be there tomorrow, and next year. The most important thing is to come home safely. Many of you have asked me where to start with mountaineering — and what it actually takes to prepare for something like this. That’s part of why I created a simple guide on how to get started, together with my personal packing list from this expedition. 100% of the revenue goes to Lama Sherpa Foundation — working for safer and fairer conditions for those who climb, work, and live in the mountains. If you’re curious, you can explore both in my Expedition Library. https://lnkd.in/enZDWYHA — Kristin
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked thisJust finished our AI for Human Flourishing class at Stanford this quarter; it ended with 40 students and 40 guests having a conversation about one question: what does it mean to flourish in the age of AI? So grateful to Dean Sarah Soule and President Jon Levin for believing this question belongs at the center of business education, for Fei-Fei Li for starting this course with me (when we didn't even have a clue on how it would evolve a decade later), and to the students who answered it this question this year with more honesty, rigor, and heart than I could have imagined. https://lnkd.in/gqPmkJjv Stanford University Stanford University Graduate School of Business
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked thisReally pleased to feature the work of Daniel Regan in this week's New Scientist. Daniel's new work explores his relationship with ADHD, where he submerged polaroids in his ADHD medication to create these vivid, dreamlike images. Anything involving mental health and visuals is a tricky area and one we haven't often fleshed out for a photo piece - so it was great to publish such interesting, sensitive, and well-researched work: https://lnkd.in/eFntKjR2
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked this🧬 TBC Is Using Living Neurons for AI Computing Founded by neurosurgeon-neuroscientists Alexander Ksendzovsky and Jonathan Pomeraniec, The Biological Computing Co. (TBC) aims to bring biological computing into the AI infrastructure stack. Instead of using neurons to study the brain, TBC connects living neuronal networks to electrode arrays and maps their activity back into machine learning systems. The company’s near-term product is software. Its biologically derived adapters are designed to plug into existing AI models, with early work focused on video generation and model efficiency. As Ksendzovsky puts it: “Returning to biology, the most perfect computer ever built in life, just makes total sense.” TBC is positioning itself on the premise that neural tissue can offer computational patterns that silicon-based systems struggle to reproduce. If that proves out, biological computing could become relevant to AI efficiency, world models, and eventually robotics. 📖 Full story linked below.
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Christopher Michel liked thisPhotographed for the The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and MedicineChristopher Michel liked thisSome career advice from 2021 medicine laureate David Julius: "If you’ve had any success in the past, you should take stock of that and realise that that will happen again, if you’re persistent, if you’re determined and you’re interested in science. I think it’s important to also relax a little bit. You have to be driven and you have to be determined and work hard, but I think emotionally you have to be relaxed and enjoy the process. I once heard Paul Nurse say when he was being interviewed on television – and I completely resonated with this – he said, sometimes things aren’t working, but you have to take joy in the experiments themselves. You should enjoy the process. Of course, you have to keep your mind on what your scientific goal is, but you should also enjoy the process and take some pride in doing experiments well and mastering new techniques because that’s the joy of the moment that gets you from place to place." Julius was awarded the medicine prize with Ardem Patapoutian "for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch." Read our full interview: https://bit.ly/4mkXUcW Photo credit: Chris Michel
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked thisMaybe Antarctica is the answer? I’ve had a lot of people reaching out who are burnt out and ready for a life change or a new adventure. If you’ve ever thought about applying for a role on the ice, these are some of my tips. Is there anything else you’d add? I go deeper on the subject in my free E-Book about how to get a job in Antarctica! You can get a free copy at mattykjordan.com/ebook. I hope you enjoy it!
Experience & Education
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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Publications
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Photographs
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My photographs have been published widely in international print and digital outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, BBC, Scientific American, Outside Magazine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, NBC News, Agence France-Presse, Smithsonian Magazine, Daily Mail, and The Telegraph, among others.
Much of my work comes from extreme and rarely seen environments, including the South Pole, Mount Everest, the Korean DMZ, Papua…My photographs have been published widely in international print and digital outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, BBC, Scientific American, Outside Magazine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, NBC News, Agence France-Presse, Smithsonian Magazine, Daily Mail, and The Telegraph, among others.
Much of my work comes from extreme and rarely seen environments, including the South Pole, Mount Everest, the Korean DMZ, Papua New Guinea, and the edge of space aboard a U-2 spy plane. I have also photographed scientists, engineers, astronauts, and global leaders, including His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
I have self-published several fine art books, including Monochromatic, Rajasthan, Point 95, and Roof of the World. I am currently working on POLAR, a long-form photography book created in collaboration with Pico Iyer, exploring polar regions through images and essays.
I am also the editor of Explorers.com and a member of the Explorers Club. A broader archive of my work can be found at ChristopherMichel.com. -
The Military Advantage
Simon & Schuster
Projects
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New Heroes
A long-term portrait and storytelling project documenting the scientists, engineers, and medical innovators shaping our understanding of the world.
Christopher Michel created New Heroes to humanize the people behind major advances in science and technology. The project combines large-format portraiture with narrative profiles, offering an intimate view of individuals whose work often remains abstract or unseen.
To date, the project includes 300 of the world’s most inspiring…A long-term portrait and storytelling project documenting the scientists, engineers, and medical innovators shaping our understanding of the world.
Christopher Michel created New Heroes to humanize the people behind major advances in science and technology. The project combines large-format portraiture with narrative profiles, offering an intimate view of individuals whose work often remains abstract or unseen.
To date, the project includes 300 of the world’s most inspiring scientists, from Nobel laureates to pioneering researchers and emerging voices across disciplines, photographed in their own environments with a focus on presence, character, and lived experience.
Photographs and stories from New Heroes have been shared widely across digital and print platforms, reaching millions of viewers.
New Heroes is part of Michel’s ongoing work as Artist-in-Residence at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Honors & Awards
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Henry Crown Fellow
Aspen Institute
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Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters
Tiffin University
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