Sofia Caetano Avritzer

AAAS Mass Media Fellow

Sofia Caetano Avritzer is the 2025 AAAS Mass Media Fellow with Science News. She has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from The Rockefeller University, where she studied how fruit flies move their eyes and navigate the world.

All Stories by Sofia Caetano Avritzer

  1. Animals

    Some penguins save energy by riding ocean currents

    When navigating home, Magellanic penguins alternate between heading straight back in calm waters and swimming with the flow in strong ocean currents.

  2. Space

    In a first, an image shows a dying star exploded twice to become a supernova 

    The image offers the first evidence for a previously unconfirmed origin story of type 1a supernovas.

  3. Paleontology

    How fast did dinosaurs really go? Birds walking in mud provide new clues

    Tracks of dinosaur footprints can hint at how fast the extinct animals moved. Here’s how guinea fowl can help fact-check those assumptions.

  4. Earth

    NASA images may help track sewage in coastal waters

    Sewage-contaminated water absorbs certain wavelengths of light, leaving a signature that can be detected by space-based instruments, a new study finds.

  5. Paleontology

    Zombifying fungi have been infecting insects for 99 million years

    Two bits of amber discovered in a lab basement hold ancient evidence of a fungi famous for controlling the minds of its victims.