Nikk Ogasa

Nikk Ogasa

Staff Writer

Nikk Ogasa is a staff writer who focuses on the physical sciences for Science News, based in Tucson, Arizona. He has a master's degree in geology from McGill University, where he studied how ancient earthquakes helped form large gold deposits. He earned another master's degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His stories have been published in Science, Scientific American, Mongabay and the Mercury News, and he was the summer 2021 science writing intern at Science News.

All Stories by Nikk Ogasa

  1. Oceans

    Before altering the air, microbes oxygenated large swaths of the sea

    Hundreds of millions of years before oxygen surged in the atmosphere 2.4 billion years ago, swaths of oxygen winked in and out of existence in the ocean.

  2. Climate

    Hidden Antarctic lakes could supercharge sea level rise

    An overlooked Antarctic water system could raise sea levels by more than 2 meters by 2300, computer simulations show.

  3. Earth

    The ozone layer shields life on Earth. We’ll soon lose a key way to monitor its health

    Imminent loss of NASA's Aura and Canada's SCISAT will severely diminish scientists’ ability to monitor ozone-depleting substances in the stratosphere.

  4. Physics

    A weird ice that may form on alien planets has finally been observed

    High-pressure experiments generated the first direct observation of plastic ice, which has qualities of both crystalline ice and liquid water.

  5. Earth

    Spooky floating lights in South Carolina could be earthquake farts

    Gases that rise from the earth during earthquakes could explain strange sightings of floating balls of light.

  6. Climate

    Yes, you can blame climate change for the LA wildfires

    Weather data show how humankind’s burning of fossil fuels made the hot, dry, windy weather more likely, setting the stage for the Los Angeles wildfires.

  7. Earth

    Another danger looms after the LA fires: Devastating debris flows

    As wildfires burn the landscape, they prime slopes for debris flows: powerful torrents of rock, mud and water that sweep downhill with deadly momentum.

  8. Climate

    Unearthed ice may be the Arctic’s oldest buried glacier remnant

    Thanks to climate change, thawing permafrost in the Canadian Arctic has revealed the buried remnant of a glacier that’s 770,000 years old.

  9. Environment

    A podcast challenges us to reassess our relationship with wildfires

    United by Fire lays out key insights from the two largest blazes in Colorado history, the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires of 2020.

  10. Climate

    California wildfire season should be over. So why is L.A. burning?

    In some parts of California, fire season is now year-round due to rising heat and little rain. High winds and dry conditions are fueling L.A.’s infernos.

  11. Planetary Science

    NASA’s Perseverance rover found a new potential setting for Martian life

    Now atop Jezero Crater, the robotic explorer found quartz indicative of habitable environments and possibly the oldest rocks yet seen in the solar system.

  12. Earth

    Earth’s inner core may be changing shape

    Earthquake data suggest that all or small patches of the inner core's surface may be swelling and contracting.