Erin Garcia de Jesús

Staff writer, Science News

Erin I. Garcia de Jesús is a staff writer at Science News. She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Washington, where she studied virus/host co-evolution. After deciding science as a whole was too fascinating to spend a career studying one topic, she went on to earn a master’s in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her writing has appeared in Nature News, Science, Eos, Smithsonian Voices and more, and she was the winter 2019 science writing intern at Science News.

All Stories by Erin Garcia de Jesús

  1. Life

    These rabbits can’t hop. A gene defect makes them do handstands

    Mutations in a gene that helps nerve cells work properly rob rabbits of their ability to hop. Instead, the animals use their front paws to move.

  2. Plants

    Scientists may have finally found how catnip repels insects

    The plant deters mosquitoes and fruit flies by triggering a chemical receptor that, in some animals, senses pain and itch.

  3. Animals

    Choked by bacteria, some starfish are turning to goo

    For years, researchers thought gooey, dying starfish were infected. Instead, these sea stars are suffocating. And bacteria may be behind it all.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Early details emerge about the new U.K. coronavirus variant

    The variant may spread more easily from person to person. That could make continuing to wear masks all the more important, experts say.

  5. Animals

    Utah mink is first known case of the coronavirus in a wild animal

    A wild mink appears to have picked up the novel coronavirus from farmed animals. Such spread in the wild does not appear common.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Moderna vaccine for COVID-19 appears nearly 95 percent effective

    A second coronavirus vaccine appears super effective in preventing people from being sickened by COVID-19.

  7. Animals

    This snake rips open a living toad to feast on its organs

    A particularly gruesome way to kill may help small-banded kukri snakes avoid a deadly poison secreted from the neck and backs of some toads.

  8. Health & Medicine

    New Pfizer vaccine appears 90 percent effective against COVID-19

    Preliminary finds show one of the new coronavirus vaccines appears 90 percent effective at reducing symptomatic COVID-19 infections.

  9. Animals

    A whale’s nearly four-hour-long dive sets a new record

    Cuvier’s beaked whales may rely on large stores of oxygen, a slow metabolism and the ability to tolerate lactic acid to go for hours without surfacing for air.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Four summer camps show how to limit COVID-19 outbreak

    Schools might take a lesson from these overnight facilities in Maine. They kept infection rates low by testing a lot and grouping kids into ‘bubbles.’

  11. Health & Medicine

    A Hong Kong man got the new coronavirus twice

    His is the first confirmed case of reinfection with this virus. His second bout was detected by accident, because he showed no symptoms.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Dust can infect animals with flu, raising coronavirus concerns

    Dust particles kicked up from some virus-contaminated surface can become a source of new infections, rodent data show.