McKenzie Prillaman

Staff Writer

McKenzie Prillaman is a science and health journalist based in Washington, DC, who interned at Science News in spring 2023. She holds a degree in neuroscience from the University of Virginia and studied adolescent nicotine dependence at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. After figuring out she’d rather explain scientific research than conduct it, she worked at the American Association for the Advancement of Science and then earned a master’s degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her work has appeared in Nature, Scientific American, The Cancer Letter and The Mercury News, among other publications.

All Stories by McKenzie Prillaman

  1. Astronomy

    A newborn planet munches on gas and dust surrounding its host star

    In a first, astronomers imaged a baby planet within a gap in the disk of material around a star, confirming predictions about how rings form.

  2. Planetary Science

    NASA’s Webb telescope spotted a new moon orbiting Uranus

    Like Uranus's other 28 moons, the newfound object spotted by JWST will be named after a William Shakespeare or Alexander Pope character.

  3. Astronomy

    A dying star revealed its heart 

    Before exploding, a star shed most of its layers, giving a glimpse at a massive star’s deep interior. The event may represent a new kind of supernova.

  4. Astronomy

    The oldest known black hole formed more than 13.3 billion years ago

    The Webb telescope found that a far-off little red dot is the oldest known black hole, shrouded by gas that could help explain the ruby color.

  5. Planetary Science

    Cosmic rays could, in theory, sustain life on other worlds

    The hypothesis could extend the search for extraterrestrial life to include frigid planets with thin atmospheres and underground water.

  6. Planetary Science

    A giant planet may orbit our closest sunlike neighbor

    Alpha Centauri A, four light-years from Earth, may host a gas giant. If confirmed, no Earthlike planets orbit in the star’s habitable zone.

  7. Astronomy

    Seven superclouds sit just beyond the solar system

    The superclouds probably produce star-forming clouds of gas, since most nearby stellar nurseries are located within the giants.

  8. Astronomy

    The Webb space telescope spies its first black holes snacking on stars

    These star-shredding black holes sit within dusty galaxies that block many telescopes’ views. That’s not an issue for JWST.

  9. Astronomy

    Two colliding galaxies may have birthed this black hole

    An infinity symbol–shaped galaxy hosts an active supermassive black hole. The growing giant may have come from the aftermath of a galactic smashup.

  10. Planetary Science

    This star offers the earliest peek at the birth of a planetary system like ours

    A young sunlike star called HOPS 315 seems to host a swirling disk of gas giving rise to minerals that kick-start the planet formation process.

  11. Planetary Science

    New Horizons visited Pluto 10 years ago. We’re still learning from it

    Over the past decade, researchers have been puzzling through Pluto’s mysteries. Meanwhile, the New Horizons probe heads for interstellar space.

  12. Astronomy

    Nearly half of the universe’s ordinary matter was uncharted, until now

    Two studies fill in gaps about the cosmos’s ordinary matter. One maps it all, even the “missing matter.” The other details one of its hiding spots.