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. Animals

    Pandas’ gut bacteria resemble carnivores’

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

  2. Materials Science

    Spiders spin stronger threads with nanotubes

    Spiders sprayed with carbon nanotubes spin supertough strands of silk.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. Microbes

    The year in microbiomes

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

  8. Archaeology

    Year in review: Roster of dinosaurs expands

    With the discovery of several new species and a few dogma-shaking revelations, dinosaurs got a total rethink in 2014.

  9. Environment

    Black carbon fouls New York subway stations

    Black carbon, a respiratory irritant, fouls air in New York subway stations.

  10. Tech

    Designing robots to help in a disaster

    Ideally, robots could take over for human crews in disaster zones. But seemingly simple tasks, such as walking, communicating and staying powered up, still pose big challenges.

  11. Neuroscience

    Breathing returns to paralyzed rats

    Scar tissue–busting enzyme plus rehabilitation therapy improves respiration long after rats’ initial spinal cord injuries.

  12. Neuroscience

    Stopped brain clock saves memory in hamsters

    Broken timekeeper in brain may explain some memory problems, hamster study suggests.