What’s a Science Reporter to Do When Sound Evidence Isn’t Sound?

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, October 6, 2017

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On Tuesday, Michael Mason, my editor on the science desk, shot me an email. Would I consider writing an article about “this sonic ‘attack’ business”?

I knew exactly what he was talking about. I had been vaguely puzzled about this business for months.

Earlier this year, my colleagues at The New York Times started to report on a medical mystery that has turned into an international standoff. American diplomats in Cuba have fallen ill with a variety of perplexing symptoms, including — reportedly — some that might denote mild brain injury.

Continue reading “What’s a Science Reporter to Do When Sound Evidence Isn’t Sound?” →

A ‘Sonic Attack’ on Diplomats in Cuba? These Scientists Doubt It

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, October 5, 2017

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A scientific enigma lies at the heart of a strange confrontation between the United States and Cuba.

According to the State Department, nearly two dozen diplomats at the American Embassy in Havana have been stricken with a variety of mysterious medical symptoms, including hearing loss and cognitive difficulties.

After concluding that staffers were the victims of a stealth attack, the department withdrew nonessential personnel from Havana and issued an advisory urging Americans not to visit. On Tuesday, the Trump administration expelled 15 Cuban diplomats from the United States.

Continue reading “A ‘Sonic Attack’ on Diplomats in Cuba? These Scientists Doubt It” →

Ancient Viruses Are Buried in Your DNA

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, October 4, 2017

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In July, scientists reported that a strange protein courses through the veins of pregnant women. No one is sure what it’s there for.

What makes this protein, called Hemo, so unusual is that it’s not made by the mother. Instead, it is made in her fetus and in the placenta, by a gene that originally came from a virus that infected our mammalian ancestors more than 100 million years ago.

Hemo is not the only protein with such an alien origin: Our DNA contains roughly 100,000 pieces of viral DNA. Continue reading “Ancient Viruses Are Buried in Your DNA” →

Friday’s Elk, September 24, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

In the field of ancient DNA, scientists keep doing the impossible. The very idea of reading genes from organisms that died thousands of years ago once seemed absurd. Then it became fairly commonplace. Still, some kinds of old DNA seemed off limits. The only place scientists could hope to find it was cold places where the molecule had a chance of surviving for millennia. Finding ancient DNA in a place like Africa seemed a fool’s errand.

Scientists are crashing through that barrier, too. A place like Africa may not be as cold as Alaska. But it does include sites–high-altitude caves, for example–where some DNA can survive. And new, sensitive tests can detect DNA in samples that would have seemed gene-free a few years ago. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, September 24, 2017” →

Clues to Africa’s Mysterious Past Found in Ancient Skeletons

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, September 21, 2017

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It was only two years ago that researchers found the first ancient human genome in Africa: a skeleton in a cave in Ethiopia yielded DNA that turned out to be 4,500 years old.

On Thursday, an international team of scientists reported that they had recovered far older genes from bone fragments in Malawi dating back 8,100 years. The researchers also retrieved DNA from 15 other ancient people in eastern and southern Africa, and compared the genes to those of living Africans.

Their analysis, published in the journal Cell, reveals important clues to Africa’s mysterious prehistory, including details of massive migrations that shaped the populations we know today.

Continue reading “Clues to Africa’s Mysterious Past Found in Ancient Skeletons” →