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.
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All Stories by Tina Hesman Saey
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Life
E. coli caught in the act of evolving
Researchers track thousands of bacterial generations to document the development of a trait nearly 25 years in the making.
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Life
DNA tags may dictate bee behavior
Chemical alterations affect genetic activity but not the genes themselves.
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Life
Stem cells may help in treating deafness
A new method triggers the development of sound-sensitive neurons in the inner ear.
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Life
New swine flu virus could infect people
Strains found in Korean pigs contain gene mutations that make them potentially transmissible to humans.
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Life
Team releases sequel to the human genome
ENCODE reveals the machinery that switches genes on and off.
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Life
Antibiotics linked to fat buildup
Research in mice implicates changes in gut microbe mix; study in infants finds excess weight gain after use of the drugs.
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Life
Unusual virus may tie snakes in knots
Captive snakes with a fatal disease harbor viruses never before seen in reptiles.
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Life
Smell deals with deprivation differently
One odor-related brain region called the orbitofrontal cortex keeps the sense primed for resumed input during a cold.
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Humans
North African Diaspora written in genes
DNA analysis of people from 15 groups identifies distinct groups and migrations.
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Life
Select cells appear to spawn tumors
Separate studies support the theory that stem cells cause cancers to emerge and recur.