Katherine J. Wu

Katherine J. Wu

 

Katherine J. Wu is a Boston-based science journalist and Story Collider senior producer whose work has appeared in National Geographic, Undark magazine, Popular Science and more. She holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunobiology from Harvard University, and was Smithsonian magazine's 2018 AAAS Mass Media Fellow.

A piece of worked glass unearthed from the English island of Lindisfarne that researchers suspect may have once been a Viking game piece

This Glass Gaming Piece May Hail From First Viking Raids in England

Discovered on the island of Lindisfarne, the artifact was likely once part of a Hnefatafl board game set

Now that's a big bubble.

Here’s How to Blow the Perfect Giant Soap Bubble, According to Physics

Sometimes, science really blows

So-called Gwion figures feature prominently in some Aboriginal artworks. New research shows some of these paintings may have been completed as recently as 12,000 years ago.

Bookended by Wasp Nests, These Aboriginal Artworks May Finally Have Definitive Dates

New estimates place paintings in Australia's Kimberley rock shelters at about 12,000 years old

Jackass penguin calls don't sound like human words. But the two forms of communications follow the same linguistic laws.

Jackass Penguin Calls Follow Similar Rules to Human Speech

These birds are nicknamed for donkeys, but structure their calls like words

Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes use a receptor called IR21a to navigate toward warmth, a cue that signals they're near food.

Why Mosquitoes Find Your Warm Blood So Appealing

These bloodthirsty buggers repurposed a gene normally used to sense and avoid high temperatures into a heat-seeking molecular machine

This 7,200-year-old well may have once helped early farmers get the most out of their land.

This Czech Well May Be the World's Oldest Wooden Structure

Researchers suspect the 7,200-year-old well stayed intact because it spent several centuries underwater

Grey seals will clap their forelimbs together underwater, generating a sharp sound that communicates to others around them.

In a First, Scientists Film Wild Grey Seals Clapping to Show Their Strength

The behavior is believed to scare off competitors while wooing potential mates

A satellite view of a region of Buckingham, England where 42 skeletons were recently unearthed on a former farm situated near a cemetery (center)

U.K. Developers Unearth 42 Bizarrely Buried Skeletons

The individuals, buried with their hands tied behind their backs, may be executed Anglo-Saxon prisoners or casualties of the English Civil War

The genetic legacies of modern humans and Neanderthals are more intertwined than once thought.

Modern Humans May Have More Neanderthal DNA Than Previously Thought

A new study is the first to identify a significant amount of Neanderthal DNA in African populations

An artist's impression of a pterosaur trying and failing to snag a cephalopod from the ocean

Pterosaur Tooth Found in Rare Ancient Squid Fossil

A tooth embedded in prehistoric cephalopod offers a glimpse into predator-prey interactions from 150 million years ago

Hartmann Schedel, The Nuremberg Chronicle (Anton Koberger, for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kamermaister), 1493

One Hundred Museums Transformed Their Collections Into Free Coloring Pages

This year's #ColorOurCollections campaign features everything from medical drawings to zany 1920s advertisements for butter

A detector dog named Szaboles, trained to sniff out the bacterial pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus in a citrus orchard.

Can Disease-Sniffing Dogs Save the World’s Citrus?

Once trained, canines can detect citrus greening disease earlier and more accurately than current diagnostics

Researchers diving amongst the wreckage of the S.S. Cotopaxi, which disappeared almost 95 years ago.

Lost Ship Rediscovered After Disappearing Near Bermuda Triangle 95 Years Ago

Far from falling prey to a paranormal occurrence, the S.S. "Cotopaxi" actually sank during an unfortunate storm

Researchers conducting excavations near Bath Abbey have uncovered the remains of an apse dated to between the late eighth and late tenth centuries.

Newly Unearthed Anglo-Saxon Monastery May Have Hosted England's First Coronation

In the millennia since Edgar the Peaceful's 973 coronation, the content of the royal ceremony has remained largely the same

The "Fashionista" line now boasts 176 dolls with nine body types, 35 skin tones and 94 hairstyles.

Meet the New Wave of More 'Diverse' Barbie Dolls

The additions include dolls with no hair, prosthetic limbs and vitiligo

A new type of aurora, called auroral dunes, produces horizontal, undulating stripes of green that resemble mounds of sand on a beach.

A New Type of Aurora Ripples Across the Sky in Horizontal Green ‘Dunes’

Originally observed by citizen scientists, the unusual light show might help researchers better understand a poorly studied layer of the atmosphere

The mesmerizing rainbow sheen of jewel beetles Sternocera aequisignata might help camouflage them from predators.

Glitzy Beetles Use Their Sparkle for Camouflage

A new study suggests eye-catching iridescence isn't just for standing out in a crowd—it can conceal, too

Chagyrskaya Cave in Siberia's Altai Mountains, where researchers uncovered Neanderthal stone blades that resemble tools excavated in Europe

Neanderthals May Have Trekked 2,000 Miles to Siberia

A new tool analysis suggests European Neanderthals migrated east at least twice

Félicette, a former stray who was sent into space by French researchers in 1963, now has a bronze statue in her honor at France's International Space University.

Félicette, the First Cat in Space, Finally Gets a Memorial

Last month, a team unveiled a bronze statue honoring the feline, who launched on a suborbital mission in 1963

The remains of Takabuti, a young woman who was murdered in the 7th century B.C. in Egypt

This 2,600-Year-Old Mummy Died in a Violent Backstabbing

Researchers concluded she was murdered by someone who forced a blade into her chest from behind

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