McKenzie Prillaman is a science and health journalist based in Washington, DC. She holds a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in science communication from the
Wounded skin cells scream with slow-motion electric pulses. Such electric spikes are a surprise because only nerve cells were thought to communicate this way. These signals move at a snail’s pace compared to
This is a non-exhaustive list of places microplastics have been found: Mount Everest, the Mariana Trench, Antarctic snow, clouds, plankton, turtles, whales, cattle, birds, tap water, beer, salt, human placentas, semen, breast milk,
axolotls are critically endangered. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, these aquatic monsters—a national symbol that features on Mexico’s 50 peso bills, and which were once considered divine entities, the
Several top scientists charged with overseeing research into disease prevention and cures at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were notified that they were subject to a reduction in force on Tuesday as
As rescue and recovery efforts continue to ramp-up in earthquake-ravaged Myanmar, new details about how the geologic setting amplified the disaster are beginning to emerge. The March 28 magnitude 7.7 earthquake that rocked
Senior physics writer Emily Conover has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago. She is a two-time winner of the D.C. Science Writers’ Association Newsbrief award and a winner of the
A newly discovered bacterial weapon against fungi can kill even drug-resistant strains, raising hopes for a new antifungal drug. Fungal infections have been spreading rapidly and widely in recent years, fueled in part
Israeli historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens became an international bestseller by presenting a view of history driven by the fictions created by mankind. His later work Homo Deus then depicted
Stone tools traditionally attributed to European and western Asian Neandertals have turned up nearly a continent away in southern China. Artifacts unearthed at a river valley site called Longtan include distinctive stone cutting
