Laurel Hamers

Laurel Hamers was the general assignment reporter at Science News.

All Stories by Laurel Hamers

  1. Cosmology

    These stars may have been born only 250 million years after the Big Bang

    Scientists find evidence that stars were forming just 250 million years after the universe was born.

  2. Neuroscience

    RNA injected from one sea slug into another may transfer memories

    Long-term memories might be encoded in RNA, a controversial study in sea slugs suggests.

  3. Life

    There’s a genetic explanation for why warmer nests turn turtles female

    Scientists have found a temperature-responsive gene that controls young turtles’ sex fate.

  4. Genetics

    Adapting to life in the north may have been a real headache

    A cold-sensing protein has adapted to different local climates, also affecting risk of migraine.

  5. Animals

    ‘The Curious Life of Krill’ is an ode to an underappreciated crustacean

    A new book makes the case that Antarctic krill and the dangers they face deserve your attention.

  6. Environment

    This plastic can be recycled over and over and over again

    A new kind of polymer is fully recyclable: It breaks down into the exact same molecules that it came from.

  7. Microbes

    This plastic-gobbling enzyme just got an upgrade

    Scientists tweaked a bacterial enzyme and made it more efficient in breaking down plastics found in polyester and plastic bottles.

  8. Animals

    These seals haven’t lost their land ancestors’ hunting ways

    Clawed pawlike forelimbs help true seals hunt like their land-dwelling ancestors.

  9. Paleontology

    Colorful moth wings date back to the dinosaur era

    Microscopic structures that scatter light to give color to the wings of modern butterflies and moths date back almost 200 million years.

  10. Health & Medicine

    50 years on, vaccines have eliminated measles from the Americas

    Thanks to high vaccination rates, measles has mostly disappeared from the Americas.

  11. Neuroscience

    Human brains make new nerve cells — and lots of them — well into old age

    In humans, new neurons are still born in old brains, new research suggests.

  12. Materials Science

    Eggshell nanostructure protects a chick and helps it hatch

    The nanoscale structure of a chicken eggshell changes to fulfill different functions as the egg incubates.