Author: Lori Jia

Gut Bacteria Can Fluctuate With the Seasons

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, August 24, 2017

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In Tanzania, not far from the Serengeti, live the Hadza, a community of about 1,300 people. For such a small group, they attract a lot of scientific attention.

Many of the Hadza live solely on the animals they kill, along with honey, berries and a few other wild foods. For the first 95 percent of our species’ history, there was no other way to live.

So the Hadza have been closely scrutinized for clues about the hunter-gatherer way of life: how they find their food, how much energy they use — even how much sleep they get.

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In ‘Enormous Success,’ Scientists Tie 52 Genes to Human Intelligence

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, May 22, 2017

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In a significant advance in the study of mental ability, a team of European and American scientists announced on Monday that they had identified 52 genes linked to intelligence in nearly 80,000 people.

These genes do not determine intelligence, however. Their combined influence is minuscule, the researchers said, suggesting that thousands more are likely to be involved and still await discovery. Just as important, intelligence is profoundly shaped by the environment.

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Game Of Genomes: Season 3

Posted on by Lori Jia

STAT, July 11, 2016

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Episode Nine: Ancient paths of Y and X

Delving into my genome, I learned a lot about how genetic variants influence my health, putting me at risk of some disorders and protecting me from others. But I also wanted to search inside my DNA for my history — my own ancestry, and that of our entire species.

I am hardly alone in my curiosity. Many people are sending their spit to testing companies so that they can learn about their origins.

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Game Of Genomes: Season 2

Posted on by Lori Jia

STAT, July 11, 2016

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Episode Six: A Jedi in the wastelands

On a recent trip to Boston, I had breakfast with a scientist named Manolis Kellis. He met me in the little dining room at my hotel, and we grabbed plates to load with food. Immediately, Kellis was enchanted by the waffle iron. He started pouring a waterfall of batter onto the hot metal and piled up a mound of waffles on his plate.

“You have to help me eat these,” Kellis announced when we sat down. He spoke with a vestige of an accent; he was born in Greece as Manolis Kamvysselis, and came to the United States in 1995 to go to MIT for college. He never left; today he’s a waffle-loving professor of computer science there.

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Are Hobbits Real?

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, June 20, 2016

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A reader asks: Scientists seem to be calling members of a 3-foot-tall species whose fossils were recently found in Indonesia “hobbits” conversationally. When did this term come into existence? Before or after Tolkien? And how might the “real” hobbits have been similar to or different from the ones Tolkien created?

Carl Zimmer, who writes the Matter column for The Times’s Science section, considers the question.

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