Tina Hesman Saey

Senior Writer, Molecular Biology, Science News

Science News 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 Endocrine Society, the Genetics Society of America and by journalism organizations.

All Stories by Tina Hesman Saey

  1. Genetics

    Scientists created human egg cells from skin cells

    The technique could someday help people without reproductive cells of their own have children. But much more research is needed.

  2. Microbes

    Thank microbes for chocolate’s tasty flavors

    Cocoa beans matter, but yeast and bacteria may be the real secret to fine chocolate flavor.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Finding cells that stop our body from attacking itself lands a Nobel

    Shimon Sakaguchi won for discovering T-reg immune cells. Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell won for showing the cells’ role in autoimmune disease.

  4. Plants

    A genetic trick leaves these stinky plants reeking of rotting flesh

    This DNA tweak in plants harnesses the same molecule behind our bad breath and transforms it into something worse: the stink of rotting flesh or dung.

  5. Humans

    Biological sex is more complex than just male or female

    Trying to define sex with just two options fails to reflect the wide range of natural variation in human genetics, hormones and biology.

  6. Health & Medicine

    2025’s Texas measles outbreak is a lesson in the value of vaccines

    The outbreak shows that a near absence of once-common childhood diseases — like measles — is not evidence that vaccines are unnecessary.

  7. Animals

    In 2024, bird flu posed big risks ­— and to far more than birds

    Cows, elephant seals and polar bears are among unexpected bird flu casualties. Learn about potential risks to them, to people and to our food supplies.

  8. Animals

    Can furry pets get H5N1 bird flu and spread it to us?

    The 2024 pandemic-style bird flu circulating in birds has shown up in cats and other pet species.

  9. Genetics

    The discovery of microRNA wins the 2024 Nobel Prize in physiology

    Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun discovered tiny snippets of genetic material, called microRNAs, that play a big role in making sure cells work as they should.

  10. Animals

    Freeze-drying turned a woolly mammoth’s DNA into ‘chromoglass’

    The 3-D structure of this now-glassy DNA revealed similarities — and differences — between woolly mammoths and elephants.

  11. Planets

    The desert planet in ‘Dune’ is pretty realistic, scientists say

     Humans could live on the fictional planet Arrakis from Dune. But thankfully giant sandworms probably could not.

  12. Health & Medicine

    A new type of immune cell may cause lifelong allergies

    These special memory cells were present in people with allergies and absent in those without.