Erin Garcia de Jesús

Staff Writer

Erin Garcia de Jesús is a staff writer at Science News. She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Washington, where she studied virus/host co-evolution. After deciding science as a whole was too fascinating to spend a career studying one topic, she went on to earn a master’s in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her writing has appeared in Nature News, Science, Eos, Smithsonian Voices and more, and she was the winter 2019 science writing intern at Science News.

All Stories by Erin Garcia de Jesús

  1. Animals

    Stray DNA is all around us. It could revolutionize conservation

    Environmental DNA harvested from the ocean, land and air can help scientists monitor wildlife. The challenge is figuring out how to interpret this eDNA.

  2. Health & Medicine

    A twisted protein sheds light on chronic wasting disease in deer

    The detailed structure of a misfolded protein from a diseased deer could help explain why the disease hasn’t made the leap to humans.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Why finding bird flu in a U.S. pig for the first time is raising new worries

    Swine can act as so-called “mixing vessels” for human and bird flus, giving avian viruses an opportunity to adapt for spreading in people.

  4. Animals

    A single enzyme can alter the vibrant colors in parrot plumage

    Tweaking the chemical composition of a parrot-specific pigment can shift feathers from red to yellow or green.

  5. Life

    Here are some stellar picks from Nikon’s top microscopy images of 2024

    The annual Small World photomicrography competition, now in its 50th year, puts life’s smallest details under the microscope.

  6. Plants

    Carnivorous plants eat faster with a fungal friend

    Insects stuck in sundew plants’ sticky secretions suffocate and die before being subjected to a medley of digestive enzymes.

  7. Animals

    This fish has legs — and it uses them for more than just walking

    Some sea robins have taste buds on their six crablike legs that help the fish ferret out prey buried in sand as they walk.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Vaccines for mpox are finally reaching Africa. But questions about the virus remain

    With concerns that mpox may now spread more easily and be more severe, researchers warn that failing to curb the outbreak means “nobody is safe.”

  9. Neuroscience

    Some healthy fish have bacteria in their brains

    Animals including mammals usually protect their brains from infiltrating microbes that can cause disease. But some fish seem to do just fine.

  10. Health & Medicine

    California droughts may help valley fever spread

    Droughts temporarily dampen the number of valley fever cases across the state, but cases spike in the years after rains return.

  11. Health & Medicine

    50 years ago, some of plastic’s toxic hazards were exposed

    Worker exposure to vinyl chloride became tightly regulated after the chemical was linked with liver cancer. Now, its use may be on the chopping block.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Extreme heat and rain are fueling rising cases of mosquito-borne diseases

    Extreme Climate Update looks at the perfect storm climate change is creating for mosquitoes and the diseases they carry, like dengue and West Nile.