Tina Hesman Saey

Tina Hesman Saey

Senior Writer, Molecular Biology

Senior writer Tina Hesman Saey is a geneticist-turned-science writer who covers all things microscopic and a few too big to be viewed under a microscope. She is an honors graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she did research on tobacco plants and ethanol-producing bacteria. She spent a year as a Fulbright scholar at the Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany, studying microbiology and traveling.  Her work on how yeast turn on and off one gene earned her a Ph.D. in molecular genetics at Washington University in St. Louis. Tina then rounded out her degree collection with a master’s in science journalism from Boston University. She interned at the Dallas Morning News and Science News before returning to St. Louis to cover biotechnology, genetics and medical science for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. After a seven year stint as a newspaper reporter, she returned to Science News. Her work has been honored by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the Endocrine Society, the Genetics Society of America and by journalism organizations.

All Stories by Tina Hesman Saey

  1. Life

    Astrocytes are rising stars

    Astrocytes, brain cells previously thought to be support cells for neurons, regulate blood flow in the brain and may aid neuron signaling. The regulation of blood flow makes visualizing brain activity with fMRI possible.

  2. Life

    Fountain of Youth, with caveats

    A chemical in red wine thought to mimic the life-extending properties of calorie restriction improves health, but doesn’t necessarily lengthen life; it could also harm the brain.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Journey to the center of the brain

    New map of brain's anatomy reveals communication hub that corresponds to an area active when the mind wanders.

  4. Life

    Losing sleep

    A genetic source of mental retardation and autism may also disrupt sleep patterns.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Ch-ch-ch-changes

    Epigenetic shifts continue throughout a person’s lifetime, and the overall pattern of these shifts appears similar within families.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Time on their side

    Review of a decade's worth of major league baseball games shows a slight cost in performance in teams with jet lag.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Bothered by cell phones

    Excessive cell phone use can disturb teenagers' sleep

  8. Health & Medicine

    Take a nap

    A nap is the most effective way to combat an after-lunch slump, but caffeine will help too.

  9. Life

    Fly fountain of youth

    Hanging out with young, healthy flies helps fruit flies with a mutation that causes neurodegeneration live longer.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Trust again

    The ability to trust others even after violations of trust is regulated by the hormone oxytocin.

  11. Life

    Reviving extinct DNA

    For the first time, scientists have resurrected a piece of DNA from an extinct animal — the Tasmanian tiger. The researchers engineered mice with a piece of the long-gone marsupial's DNA that turns on a collagen gene in cartilage-producing cells.

  12. Life

    Sepsis buster

    The Ashwell receptor, a sugar-binding protein on liver cells, helps fight sepsis by clearing blood-clotting factors. The discovery clears up years of mystery surrounding the receptor’s function.