Erin Garcia de Jesús

Staff Writer

Erin 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. illustration of mpox virions
    Health & Medicine

    Viruses other than the coronavirus made headlines in 2022

    Here’s the latest on monkeypox, Ebola, bird flu and other outbreaks that hit this year.

  2. Several people hold up glasses of beer in a cheers motion
    Health & Medicine

    50 years ago, a ‘cure’ for intoxication showed promise

    In 1972, vitamin and chemical injections reduced the amount of time that rats fed alcohol spent drunk. The science has yet to pan out for people.

  3. A photo of 16 month old Ayla Bashir sitting in her mothers lap
    Health & Medicine

    This child was treated for a rare genetic disease while still in the womb

    Babies born with infantile-onset Pompe disease typically have enlarged hearts and weak muscles. But 1-year-old Ayla has a normal heart and walks.

  4. An illustration of a large green coronavirus, with a purple and red coronavirus breaking through the right half of the larger virus. The backdrop is multicolored scan lines on the left half and plain gray on the right
    Health & Medicine

    A swarm of sneaky omicron variants could cause a COVID-19 surge this fall

    Scientists are tracking similar mutations showing up in many variants that help the coronavirus evade some of our immune defenses and treatments.

  5. a microscopic image of a Madagascar giant day gecko hand, showing cyan-colored nerve cells amidst yellow and orange collagen, against a black backdrop
    Life

    A glimpse inside a gecko’s hand won the 2022 Nikon Small World photo contest

    The annual competition highlights microscopic images that bring the smallest details from science and nature to life.

  6. Microscope image of a cell infected with SARS-CoV-2
    Health & Medicine

    ‘Breathless’ explores COVID-19’s origins and other pandemic science

    In his new book, David Quammen examines what we’ve learned about SARS-CoV-2 and puts the pandemic in the context of previous coronavirus scares.

  7. Image of Pangaea
    Earth

    50 years ago, scientists dug into Pangaea’s past lives

    In 1972, scientists wondered whether Pangaea was Earth’s only supercontinent. Fifty years later, we know it wasn’t the first and it won’t be the last.

  8. illustration of a blue immune cell gobbling up rainbow-colored immune proteins
    Health & Medicine

    5 people with lupus are in remission after CAR-T cell treatment

    More than six months after CAR-T cell treatment, five patients are in remission and have functional immune systems.

  9. Photo of a child receiving an oral dose of a polio vaccine
    Health & Medicine

    Poliovirus is spreading in New York. Here’s what you need to know

    With signs of poliovirus spreading in a handful of counties in New York, unvaccinated people could be at risk of paralytic polio.

  10. a sulphur-crested cockatoo on top of a trash can, pecking a brick that is weighing the lid down
    Animals

    Need to keep cockatoos out of your trash? Try bricks, sticks or shoes

    In Sydney, humans may be in an escalating arms race with cockatoos. People are trying new tools to keep the pesky parrots out of their trash.

  11. Black silhouette of a man on a parkbench with an illustration of a pink coronavirussen seated next to him.
    Health & Medicine

    Who has the highest risk of long COVID? It’s complicated

    Long COVID can look different for different people, making it difficult to pinpoint the risk factors behind it.

  12. A close-up of an Aedes aegypti mosquito
    Animals

    Why mosquitoes are especially good at smelling you

    How Aedes aegypti mosquitoes smell things is different from how most animals do, making hiding human odors from the insects more complicated.