Laurel Hamers

Laurel Hamers was the general assignment reporter at Science News.

All Stories by Laurel Hamers

  1. Health & Medicine

    50 years later, vaccines have eliminated some diseases

    Vaccines have come a long way in 50 years.

  2. Life

    Scientists need to redraw picture of cell’s biggest organelle

    A close-up view of the cell’s endoplasmic reticulum reveals a different structure.

  3. Life

    Virus triggers immune proteins to aid enemy

    Virus-fighting proteins in the immune system can sometimes help out their targets instead.

  4. Genetics

    Big biological datasets map life’s networks

    Expanding from genomics to multi-omics means stretching data capacity, but it may lead to a future of early diagnosis, personalized medicine and hardy crops.

  5. Ecosystems

    ‘Citizen Scientist’ exalts ordinary heroes in conservation science

    Journalist Mary Ellen Hannibal’s “Citizen Scientist” tells tales of ordinary people contributing to science.

  6. Computing

    AI system learns like a human, stores info like a computer

    A new artificial neural network hooked up to extra memory can learn to solve complex problems.

  7. Computing

    AI system learns like a human, stores info like a computer

    A new artificial neural network hooked up to extra memory can learn to solve complex problems.

  8. Life

    One-celled life possessed tools for going multicellular

    Unicellular ancestors of animals had molecular tools used by multicellular life.

  9. Neuroscience

    Nerve cell migration after birth may explain infant brain’s flexibility

    A large group of neurons migrates into babies’ frontal lobes after birth.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Deciphering cell’s recycling machinery earns Nobel

    The 2016 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his work on autophagy, a process that cells use to break down old parts for future use.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Japanese scientist wins Nobel for revealing secrets of cellular recycling

    Discovering how cells act as mini recycling plants wins the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi.

  12. Plants

    Narrowed plumbing lets flower survive summer cold snaps

    Ice barriers help alpine plants save their flowers during summer cold snaps.