Meghan Rosen headhsot

Meghan Rosen

Staff Writer, Biological Sciences

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.

All Stories by Meghan Rosen

  1. Health & Medicine

    Mice grow a thinner skin during long stays in space

    Mice that spent three months in space had thinner skin and extra hair growth compared with rodents that were grounded on Earth.

  2. Health & Medicine

    One in 10 people with tattoos experience rashes, scarring or other problems

    Tattoos carry risk of long-term rash; red ink may be most irritating color.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Ebola gatekeeper protein identified

    Ebola’s ability to infect appears to depend on a key transport protein that guides the virus into cells.

  4. Neuroscience

    Brain implants let paralyzed man move robotic arm

    Implanting tiny silicon chips in the action-planning part of a paralyzed man’s brain let him smoothly control a robotic limb with his thoughts.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Broken bones heal with young blood, how remains a mystery

    Blood from young mice rejuvenates bones of elderly mice, but how it works remains a mystery.

  6. Animals

    Pandas’ gut bacteria resemble carnivores’

    Unlike other vegetarians, the bamboo eaters lack plant-digesting microbes.

  7. Materials Science

    Spiders spin stronger threads with nanotubes

    Spiders sprayed with carbon nanotubes spin supertough strands of silk.

  8. Genetics

    Molecular scissors snip at cancer’s Achilles’ heel

    Finding cancer’s vulnerable spots using CRISPR technology could lead to drugs that hit the disease hard.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Kids who have had measles are at higher risk of fatal infections

    Measles infection leaves kids vulnerable to other infectious diseases for much longer than scientists suspected.

  10. Paleontology

    Oldest known avian relative of today’s birds found in China

    Fossil find suggests modern birds’ oldest avian relative lived about 6 million years before previous record holder.

  11. Genetics

    The year in genomes

    From the tiny Antarctic midge to the towering loblolly pine, scientists this year cracked open a variety of genetic instruction manuals to learn about some of Earth’s most diverse inhabitants.

  12. Microbes

    The year in microbiomes

    This year, scientists pegged microbes as important players in several aspects of human health, including obesity and cancer.