Meghan Rosen

Staff Writer, Biological Sciences, Science News

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. Her work has appeared in WiredScience, 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. Earth

    Bubbles may have sheltered Earth’s early life

    For Earth’s earliest inhabitants, a bubble on the beach would have been the next best thing to a safety blanket.

  2. Tech

    New e-skin feels heat, textures and more

    Two new developments in electronic “skin” hold promise for making prosthetic devices that can provide a better sense of touch. One gets its great sensitivity from being modeled on the human fingertip.

  3. Fossils

    This prehistoric meat eater preferred surf to turf

    For years, paleontologists thought the fierce, sharp-toothed Dimetrodon made a meal of land-based plant eaters. Not anymore. New fossils suggest aquatic animals were its meals of choice.

  4. Health & Medicine

    These bubbles treat wounds

    New research shows bubble-powered drugs can travel upstream, against the flow of blood, to seal wounds shut.

  5. Chemistry

    Trio gets chemistry Nobel for figuring out DNA repair

    Three researchers have won the 2015 Nobel Prize in chemistry for working out how cells fix damaged genetic material.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Vaping can lead to teen smoking, new study finds

    A study in L.A. high school students finds that those who vape are much more likely than those who don’t to eventually take up smoking cigarettes.

  7. Brain

    Smell test may detect autism

    A new study finds that kids with autism sniff foul scents for as long as pleasing ones. The finding could lead to a test to diagnose the disorder.

  8. Tech

    Robo-roach squeezes through tight spaces

    An arched shell helps a new cockroach-inspired robot move through an obstacle course with relative ease.

  9. Genetics

    DNA in ivory pinpoints elephant poaching hot spots

    Thousands of elephants have been killed for their ivory tusks. A new study used DNA in ivory to trace where most of the killings happen.

  10. Fossils

    New analysis halves massive dino’s weight

    No question about it, Dreadnoughtus schrani was enormous. But a new estimate concludes this dino weighed just half as much as first thought.

  11. Animals

    Picture This: The real ‘early bird’

    Long before dinosaurs went extinct, birds were emerging on Earth. These hummingbird-size wading birds are the earliest known ancestors of today’s birds.

  12. Environment

    Soot fouls subway stations — and maybe lungs

    Soot levels in stations for New York City’s electric subway trains exceed the levels outdoors, a new study finds. The underground source of this black carbon: maintenance trains that share the tracks with subway trains. Breathing soot can aggravate asthma and other lung disease.