Juli Berwald earned a Ph.D. in ocean science from the University of Southern California. She has written both textbooks and popular science articles for National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, Nature, Science, The Wall Street Journal, Discover, The Smithsonian, and Texas Monthly, among others. She has also released two nature nonfiction books: Spineless (2017) and Life on the Rocks (2022). She lives in Austin, Texas.