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 Wired, Science, 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. Health & Medicine

    RNA work that led to COVID-19 vaccines wins 2023 Nobel in medicine

    Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman overcame hurdles to using mRNA for medicine. This led to COVID vaccines — and maybe, one day, some for other infections.

  2. Fossils

    Ancient jellyfish? Upside down this one looks like something else

    A new look at an ancient sea animal called Essexella suggests it may have been a type of burrowing sea anemone, not a floating jelly.

  3. Psychology

    Procrastination may hurt your health — but you can change that

    Scientists have linked procrastination to mental and physical health problems. But don’t be too hard on yourself — there are steps you can take.

  4. Science & Society

    How daylight saving time throws off your internal clock

    Turning the clock ahead knocks our bodies and brains out of sync with the sun. That leads to many potential health issues.

  5. Animals

    Tiny bumps on polar bear paws help them get traction on snow

    Super-small structures on the Arctic animals’ paws might offer extra friction that keeps them from slipping on snow, a new study concludes.

  6. Genetics

    For some kids, their rock-star hair comes naturally

    A variant of a gene involved in hair-shaft formation was linked to most of the uncombable-hair-syndrome cases analyzed in a recent study.

  7. Chemistry

    Lego-like way to snap molecules together wins 2022 chemistry Nobel

    This so-called ‘click chemistry’ allows scientists to build complex molecules in the lab and in living cells.

  8. Animals

    The top side of an elephant’s trunk is surprisingly stretchy

    Research on elephant trunks could inspire new artificial skins for soft robots.

  9. Plants

    This pitcher plant lures insects into underground deathtraps

    Scientists didn’t expect the carnivorous, eggplant-shaped pitchers to be sturdy enough to grow embedded in the soil.

  10. Animals

    Why these jumping toadlets get confused mid-flight

    The tiny pumpkin toadlet tumbles when it jumps. Its ear canals may be too tiny to help the animal track its motion through the air.

  11. Fossils

    Fossils offer new candidate for earliest life

    Rock unearthed in Canada appears to hold fossils from seafloor microbes that would have lived around 4 billion years ago, when Earth was very young.

  12. Tech

    Speedy, springy robot ‘Salto’ catches some serious air

    A lightweight robot nicknamed “Salto” can bound from floor to wall and back. Such fast and agile bots may someday aid in search-and-rescue operations.