Jonathan Lambert

Staff Writer, Biological Sciences, 2019-2021

Jonathan Lambert was a staff writer covering biological sciences at Science News from 2019 to 2021. He earned a master’s degree from Cornell University studying how a bizarre day-long mating ritual helped accelerate speciation in a group of Hawaiian crickets. A summer at the Dallas Morning News as a AAAS Mass Media fellow sparked a pivot from biologist to science journalist. He previously wrote for Quanta Magazine, NPR, and Nature News.

All Stories by Jonathan Lambert

  1. Health & Medicine

    Five big questions about when and how to open schools amid COVID-19

    Researchers weigh in on how to get children back into classrooms in a low-risk way.

  2. Life

    Water beetles can live on after being eaten and excreted by a frog

    After being eaten by a frog, some water beetles can scurry through the digestive tract and emerge on the other side, alive and well.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Many U.S. neighborhoods with the worst air 40 years ago remain the most polluted

    Air pollution has declined in the United States, but marginalized communities are still disproportionately affected despite the improvement.

  4. Health & Medicine

    To prevent the next pandemic, we might need to cut down fewer trees

    Investing in halting deforestation and limiting the wildlife trade could be a cost-effective way to reduce the risk of pandemics, a new analysis finds.

  5. Humans

    Competitive hot dog eaters may be nearing humans’ max eating speed

    Just how many hot dogs can one human eat in 10 minutes? New research suggests the answer is 83.

  6. Health & Medicine

    What you need to know about the airborne transmission of COVID-19

    More than 200 experts have implored the World Health Organization to acknowledge that the coronavirus can spread through the air.

  7. Science & Society

    The U.S. largely wasted time bought by COVID-19 lockdowns. Now what?

    As states reopen, most don’t have adequate systems in place to test, trace and isolate new COVID-19 cases, setting the stage for future outbreaks.

  8. 50 years ago, scientists first investigated antibiotic resistance in livestock

    In 1970, scientists began investigating the effects of feeding antibiotics to livestock. 50 years later, we know it can be harmful for humans.

  9. Ecosystems

    Bringing sea otters back to the Pacific coast pays off, but not for everyone

    Benefits of reintroducing sea otters in the Pacific Northwest, such as boosting tourism, vastly outweigh the costs, a new analysis shows.

  10. Health & Medicine

    No, you can’t hear the difference between sick and healthy coughs

    A study shows humans can’t distinguish between the sound of a cough from someone with an infectious disease and someone with a tickle in the throat.

  11. Science & Society

    A #BlackBirdersWeek cofounder aims to amplify black nature enthusiasts

    Wildlife biologist Danielle Belleny hopes the social media campaign represents black birders and nature enthusiasts of color in a hobby often stereotyped as white.

  12. Life

    These tube-shaped creatures may be the earliest known parasites

    Fossils from over 500 million years ago might be the first known example of parasitism in the fossil record, though the evidence isn’t conclusive.