Tina Hesman Saey

Tina Hesman Saey

Senior Writer, Molecular Biology

Senior writer Tina Hesman Saey is a geneticist-turned-science writer who covers all things microscopic and a few too big to be viewed under a microscope. She is an honors graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she did research on tobacco plants and ethanol-producing bacteria. She spent a year as a Fulbright scholar at the Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany, studying microbiology and traveling.  Her work on how yeast turn on and off one gene earned her a Ph.D. in molecular genetics at Washington University in St. Louis. Tina then rounded out her degree collection with a master’s in science journalism from Boston University. She interned at the Dallas Morning News and Science News before returning to St. Louis to cover biotechnology, genetics and medical science for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. After a seven year stint as a newspaper reporter, she returned to Science News. Her work has been honored by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the Endocrine Society, the Genetics Society of America and by journalism organizations.

All Stories by Tina Hesman Saey

  1. Another chromosome down, more to go

    Scientists from six countries have completed the sequence of human chromosome 21.

  2. Leggy beetles show how insects lost limbs

    Inactivating two genes in red flour beetles causes grubs to grow lots of legs—and provides clues to the puzzle of the evolution of the six-legged body plan.

  3. Earth

    Global warming is marmot wake-up call

    Marmots are coming out of hibernation earlier, while chipmunks and ground squirrels sleep longer-effects that could be attributed to global warming.

  4. The Meaning of Life

    Computers are unscrambling genomes to reveal the secrets in DNA codes.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Asthma pressure may shrink airways

    Mechanical stress from constricting muscles could cause airway-lining cells to reproduce, eventually thickening the lining and narrowing the air passage.

  6. Chemistry

    Now, nylon comes in killer colors

    Chemists are improving antibacterial fabrics by treating them with compounds that prolong their killing power and add color.

  7. Paleontology

    Telltale Dino Heart Hints at Warm Blood

    A recently discovered fossil dinosaur heart is more like the heart of birds and mammals than that of crocodiles, providing further evidence that dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded.

  8. Chemistry

    Sweet tooth is in the genes

    Taste researchers have narrowed the search for the sweet tooth gene, at least in mice, to a 100-gene region.

  9. Chemistry

    Birth control for male cockroaches

    Scientists have discovered a gene in German cockroaches that may lead to a new type of insect control—contraception for male cockroaches.

  10. Chemistry

    Coming up roses in scent research

    Aroma chemists have discovered a carotenoid-processing enzyme that makes the chemicals that give rose oil its smell.

  11. Earth

    It’s high tide for ice age climate change

    Tides may sometimes be strong enough to tug Earth into an ice age.

  12. Tech

    Coal: The cool fuel for future jets

    To power faster supersonic jets, scientists are developing coal-derived fuels that can absorb heat without breaking down at high temperatures.