Meghan Rosen is a staff writer who reports on the life sciences for Science News. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology with an emphasis in biotechnology from the University of California, Davis, and later graduated from the science communication program at UC Santa Cruz. Prior to joining Science News in 2022, she was a media relations manager at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her work has appeared in Wired, Science, and The Washington Post, among other outlets. Once for McSweeney’s, she wrote about her kids’ habit of handing her trash, a story that still makes her (and them) laugh.
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All Stories by Meghan Rosen
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Physics
Sounds from gunshots may help solve crimes
Sound wave analysis may help forensic scientists figure out what types of guns were fired at a crime scene.
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Health & Medicine
This week in Zika: vaccine progress, infection insights
Vaccine candidates for Zika virus take a step forward, birth defects span spectrum of problems and doubts about Zika’s link to microcephaly may be extinguished by new reports from Colombia.
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Paleontology
Parasites wormed way into dino’s gut
Tiny slimed tunnels in the guts of a 77-million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur fossil offer the first hard evidence that dinosaurs may have been infected by parasitic worms, paleontologists say.
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Plants
‘Lab Girl’ invites readers into hidden world of plants
In Lab Girl, geobiologist Hope Jahren reveals secret lives of plants — and scientists.
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Science & Society
Tough gun laws in Australia eliminate mass shootings
Following the 1996 implementation of strict gun control laws in Australia, the country has not experienced any mass shootings.
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Health & Medicine
Zika infection late in pregnancy may be not so risky
An early report out of Colombia finds no microcephaly in babies born to a group of pregnant women infected with Zika virus during the third trimester.
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Health & Medicine
WHO: Very little risk that Brazil’s Olympics will speed Zika’s spread
Olympics not likely to hasten international spread of Zika virus, according to WHO analysis that includes data from previous mass gatherings.
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Animals
Pygmy blue whales deepen their moans
Sri Lankan pygmy blue whales are tweaking their calls — making one part deeper and keeping another part the same — but scientists can’t say why. The finding injects a new wrinkle in theories about blue whale calls.
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Life
Bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotic appears in U.S.
For the first time in the United States, scientists have reported a patient infected with a strain of bacteria carrying the gene mrc-1, making it resistant to the last-ditch antibiotic colistin.
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Psychology
‘Vocal fry’ makes female singers seem expressive
Female singers who use vocal fry, the deep, creaky vocal effect made famous by pop stars like Britney Spears, may sound more expressive to listeners.
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Planetary Science
Seismic experiment might reveal thickness of Europa’s ice
Crashing an empty rocket fuel tank into the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, could help scientists figure out the thickness of the ice.
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Health & Medicine
CDC tracking 279 U.S. pregnant women with possible Zika infections
The number of U.S. pregnant women with evidence of Zika infection has climbed to nearly 300, and includes both women with and without symptoms.