Rachel Ehrenberg

Previously the interdisciplinary sciences and chemistry reporter and author of the Culture Beaker blog, Rachel has written about new explosives, the perils and promise of 3-D printing and how to detect corruption in networks of email correspondence. Rachel was a 2013-2014 Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT. She has degrees in botany and political science from the University of Vermont and a master’s in evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan. She graduated from the science writing program at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

All Stories by Rachel Ehrenberg

  1. Genetics

    New type of stem cells, fuzzy and flexible

    A new way to make stem cells produces fuzzy cells that appear as flexible as other types of stem cells, but are easier to grow in the lab and avoid ethical issues.

  2. Materials Science

    Carbon supplants silicon in electronic medical sensors

    Prototypes of electronic medical devices constructed from organic materials are noninvasive yet offer similar performance as silicon-based health sensors.

  3. Neuroscience

    Brain regions linking odors to words pinpointed

    Scientists have pinpointed two brain regions involved in linking odors to their names, with implications for why smells are hard to identify.

  4. Earth

    Early animals couldn’t catch a breath

    Low levels of oxygen may have hindered evolution of animal life hundreds of millions of years ago.

  5. Science & Society

    E-commerce sites personalize search results to maximize profits

    Travel and retail websites alter search results depending on whether consumers use smartphones or particular web browsers.

  6. Life

    Artificial sweeteners may tip scales toward metabolic problems

    The artificial sweetener saccharin meddles with the gut’s microbial community, setting in motion metabolic changes associated with obesity and diabetes.

  7. Humans

    Skulls reveal Neandertal’s hodge-podge genealogy

    A new analysis of ancient hominid skulls reveals a patchy anatomical start of the Neandertal lineage.

  8. Earth

    Earth’s deep interior holds vast reservoir of water

    Ocean’s worth of water trapped in Earth’s mantle, lab experiments and seismic data suggest.

  9. Anthropology

    Year in Review: Slain king’s bones dug up

    The king’s skeleton reveals fatal wounds.

  10. Earth

    Life under ice

    Lake Vostok may harbor ingredients for a complex subglacial ecosystem.

  11. Earth

    Magma can speed to the surface, powering volcanoes

    Fast ascent of molten rock could help scientists predict eruptions.

  12. Anthropology

    Mummified Incan teen drank, did drugs

    Girl, who was sacrificed, may have been sedated by alcohol, coca leaves.