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
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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.
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Animals
Superblack fish can disappear in the deep sea’s darkness
Some fish that live in the ocean’s depths are superblack due to a special layer of light-absorbing structures in their skin.
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Health & Medicine
Coronavirus outbreak at camp infected more than 200 kids and staff
Think kids don’t get COVID-19 and spread it? Think again. An outbreak at a Georgia summer camp left 260 people infected. The rate was highest in kids under 10.
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Animals
Toxic germs on its skin make this newt deadly
Bacteria living on the skin of some rough-skinned newts make tetrodotoxin. This paralyzing poison is also found in pufferfish.
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Science & Society
Coronavirus lockdowns may have avoided 531 million infections
Studies find big benefits from global coronavirus lockdowns. More than a half a billion of the potentially deadly infections appear to have been avoided.
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Animals
When prey get scarce, these jellies become cannibals
Invasive comb jellies may feast on their larvae if massive population booms in summer deplete their prey.
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Animals
Lots of frogs and salamanders have a secret glow
A widespread ability to glow in brilliant colors could make amphibians easier to track down in the wild.
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Science & Society
How much do masks help against COVID-19?
There’s a range of masks available to the public. From purchased to home-made coverings, all should help — some a lot more than others.
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Microbes
Check out the communities of bacteria living on your tongue
Bacteria scraped off the tongue offer a window into how the microbes structure their communities.
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Life
Here’s how butterfly wings keep cool in the sun
Butterfly wings sport structures that let living tissues release more heat than the rest of the wing.
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Health & Medicine
What ‘community’ spread of coronavirus means
Health experts warn there are probably many undetected cases already in the United States, raising chances the disease will soon be widespread.
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Animals
Ouch! Jellyfish snot can hurt people who never touch the animal
A goo shed by at least one species of upside-down jellyfish contains stinging cells. They can cause pain even to creatures that never touch the jelly.