Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. Previously, she worked at The Scientist, where she was an associate editor for nearly three years. She has also worked as a freelance editor and writer, and as a writer at the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory. She was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015, and was an intern at the magazine in the summer of 2008. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT. Her book, Bright Galaxies, Dark Matter and Beyond, on the life of astronomer Vera Rubin, will be published by MIT Press in August.

All Stories by Ashley Yeager

  1. Animals

    Snake and lizard ancestor may have birthed live young

    Over millions of years, reptiles may have switched back and forth between laying eggs and giving birth to live babies.

  2. Astronomy

    Milky Way may indeed have four spiral arms

    In 2008, the galaxy lost two of its spiral arms. But it may be getting them back.

  3. Astronomy

    China’s Chang’e-3 craft lands on the moon

    The unmanned Chang’e-3 lunar lander and Yutu rover have made it to the moon's surface.

  4. Microbes

    Bacteria turn threatening in tests with immune cells

    In less than 30 days, nonthreatening E. coli can transform into dangerous microbes in mice.

  5. Neuroscience

    Concussion-free head blows may still affect brain

    Some college athletes who played contact sports had more changes in their brain’s white matter than varsity competitors in less violent games.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Staph bacteria linger deep in our noses

    The nasal cavity has hidden crevices where the disease-causing bacteria like to hang out.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Mutated H7N9 strain is drug resistant, spreadable

  8. Astronomy

    Galaxy’s cloud catalog reveals hydrogen fog

    Fifty percent of the molecular hydrogen exists in a gas layer that spreads throughout the Whirlpool galaxy and envelopes the giant clouds where stars form.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Watching media coverage of disasters linked to stress

    Watching hours of media coverage of traumatic events may worsen symptoms of distress.

  10. Astronomy

    Saturn’s six-sided cloud pattern gets a close look

    New images show particles in the planet’s hexagonally shaped jet stream.

  11. Life

    H7N9 flu still better adapted to infect birds over humans

    The proteins from the avian flu appear better suited for attaching to bird, not human, molecules.

  12. Life

    Targeting single set of nerve cells may block mosquitoes

    The insects use the same neurons to detect carbon dioxide from our breath and odors from our skin so blocking those cells could lead to more simplified repellent systems.