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I have been science blogging and writing since 2010 when I began covering proteomics, microbiology, and biotechnology.
I love entomology, cell biology, all the -omics, microbiology, neuroscience, and occasional forays into policy. Oxford comma and singular they for life.
Science Books
The world is full of tiny viruses and bacteria that can be seen only through a microscope. Some bacteria can be helpful, but others cause diseases such as typhoid fever. Viruses can cause deadly diseases such as COVID-19. Young readers will get all the facts about bacteria and viruses, including...
Did you know that there are animals all around you that you can’t see without a microscope? Sometimes it’s good you can’t see them. As you shed dead skin cells, thousands of dust mites gobble them up. Gross! Tiny water bears are super tough. They can survive in Earth’s...
Can't sleep? Too many things to worry about? Or do you get lost in your mind thinking about all the ways tomorrow could go wrong? Why does this happen? The
An excerpt from a middle grades reader exploring neuroscience and emotion
Entomology Writing
The costs associated with invasive insects add up to more than $70 billion every single year-and that price tag is expected to increase as climate change, global trade, and an overall uptick in human movement help expand the ranges of exotic pests.
Neonicotinoid pesticides kill insect pests by acting on their nervous systems, eventually causing paralysis and death. That makes them effective pesticides, but it's not great news for pollinators that come into contact with neonicotinoids while foraging or nesting.
The Pleistocene Epoch began 2.6 million years ago and was marked by wild climate swings that caused glaciers to advance and recede-sometimes covering huge swaths of the northern hemisphere and changing important habitats.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever spreads when Rickettsia rickettsia bacteria pour into a bite wound while an American dog tick takes a blood meal. Unlike some other tick-borne diseases, which require a longer bite to transmit, Rocky Mountain spotted fever infection may take place within the first 30 minutes of the tick bite.
Insects, like all eukaryotes, have specialized organelles called mitochondria tucked into nearly every cell. Most famously, these act like tiny generators, transforming the energy from food into energy that powers the cell. Mitochondria have their own set of DNA separate from the DNA held in the cell's nucleus.
Most people picture bumble bees as fuzzy insects whose social colonies epitomize the idea of working together for a common purpose, but one group of bees has a less friendly approach: cuckoo bumble bees (subgenus Psithyrus) steal into other bumble bees' nests, take out the queen, and force the workers to rear their brood instead.