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Sara Hashemi

Daily Correspondent

Sara Hashemi

Sara Hashemi is a science journalist and fact-checker who covers space, wildlife, climate and technology for Smithsonian magazine’s Smart News section. Her work covers environmental justice, climate and the intersection between science and society.

Highlights

  • Bylines in the Guardian, Sierra, Sentient Media, Live Science, Retraction Watch and more

Education

Master’s degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University
Bachelor’s degree in environment and development from McGill University

Stories from Sara Hashemi

The nocturnal barn owls have drawn crowds of birders at night.

A Family of Barn Owls Has Moved Into New York City’s Upper West Side, Perhaps the First to Nest in Manhattan in Modern History

The feathered residents have attracted lots of attention, as their species is considered an extremely rare sight in the city

Neanderthals may have used wooden objects as hunting weapons, trays, plates and more.

An Unprecedented Trove of Ancient Wooden Tools Uncovered at a Rock Shelter in Spain Shows Neanderthals Were Skilled Woodworkers

Wooden objects usually decompose quickly, but periodic flooding and minerals in the water helped preserve those at a site called Abric Romaní. Archaeologists documented nearly 600 wooden objects—or their imprints—and 13 were clearly shaped by human hands

These visualizations show how the Antarctic ozone hole grew from August 1, 2026 to September 12, 2026. 

September’s Ozone Hole Was the Biggest It Has Been in 25 Years

The size of the hole in the stratosphere’s ozone layer fluctuates every year, but last month’s, measuring 10.6 million square miles, was especially large

An early start to the season doesn't necessarily mean it'll be a more severe one than usual, according to health professionals.

Flu Season Started Early in Parts of the U.S., and Experts Say You Should Consider Getting the Seasonal Jab ASAP. Here’s What to Know

The season usually starts in October or November. But some western states, including California, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, began seeing a rise in flu cases as early as August

The bacterium Yersinia pestis causes the plague. 

Employee of a Russian Anti-Plague Lab Dies of Pneumonia, Sparking Concerns Over the Disease Behind the Black Death. Here’s What to Know

No official cause of her pneumonia has been confirmed, and Russian health officials say that none of the deceased individual’s close contacts tested positive for the plague. Pneumonic plague is a rare, deadly form of the disease

Most previous brain-computer interfaces have focused on speech or movement, rather than both simultaneously.

This Brain Implant Allows People With Paralysis to Speak and Gesture at the Same Time Via a Mind-Controlled Virtual Avatar

The experimental technology is still in the early stage and was fully tested in just two participants. But it could one day help people with motor problems communicate with more nuance or help them control robotic prosthetic limbs

2024's Hurricane Milton as seen from the International Space Station

Could 2026 Be a Year With No Atlantic Hurricanes? We’ve Surprisingly Passed Their Peak Month Without Any, Thanks to El Niño

Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November, and the last time one passed by without an intense cyclone was more than 100 years ago. While the ongoing “super” El Niño seems to be suppressing storms in the Atlantic, the Pacific Ocean is being overactive

The view from low-Earth orbit

Google Wants to Send Data Centers to Space—and Just Launched an Experimental Satellite to Test Whether Its Ambitious Plan Will Work

The tech giant aims to use the near-constant sunlight available in low-Earth orbit to power data centers. The experimental satellite, launched October 1, holds four computer chips that can run Google’s Gemini A.I. for 15 minutes at a time

Osiris is one of three beluga whales that died at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The other died at Oceanografic Valencia in Spain.

Four Beluga Whales Died Weeks After Being Rescued From a Defunct Marine Park in Canada. Were the Animals Too Sick to Be Moved?

They were among 30 whales transferred from the facility over the summer. It had faced multiple allegations of animal neglect and cruelty before closing in 2024

MRI scanners create detailed images of the inside of the body using a powerful magnet and radio waves.

MRI Scans Might Reveal Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease Seven Years Before a Telltale Marker Appears in the Brain

Not all researchers are convinced that the brain changes detected via MRI are robust enough to become a diagnostic tool. But the findings could help researchers better understand the mechanisms that drive the neurodegenerative disease

A giant isopod plucked from the ocean near China

This Massive, Deep-Sea Roly Poly Can Go Years Without Food Thanks to a Huge Stomach and a Stolen Gene, Study Suggests

The ancestors of the giant isopod Bathynomus jamesi—a seafloor-dwelling creature that resembles a huge pill bug—acquired the snippet of DNA from bacteria more than 16 million years ago, according to a new study. The gene helps the animal slow its metabolism

Researchers tested the battery in an RFID tag that can be rolled up in a capsule and swallowed. It can then transmit information about the digestive tract to a reader outside the body.

Scientists Invent a Digestible, Paper-Based Battery That Can Power Swallowed or Implanted Medical Devices

So far, the technology has been tested only in pigs. If it’s successful in humans, it could one day power tools that monitor your health or deliver drugs or electrical currents inside the body

Participants in Germany liked the Eurasian blackbird's call the most out of a list of vocalizations made by more than 100 birds.

Some Birdsongs Are More Pleasing to Human Ears Than Others. Higher-Pitched, Complex Calls Tend to Sound More Beautiful to Us

In a new study, more than 80 participants rated the pleasantness of vocalizations made by 123 European bird species. Researchers then looked at the acoustic qualities of the most—and least—liked songs

The "super" El Niño event in the Pacific Ocean has been brewing since June and will extend through February.

Scientists Say Scorching Temperatures Brought on by the ‘Super’ El Niño Could Kill Nearly Half a Million People by February

The predicted number, which includes deaths since June, likely represents an underestimate of total deaths. The heat could linger beyond February, and the climate swing could bring about other life-threatening conditions, including flooding, wildfire and infectious diseases

Mercury as seen by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft during a flyby in 2008, before it began orbiting the planet.

Mercury Has Wrinkles That Show It’s Shrinking. Now, Scientists Say the Planet Has Shriveled Far More Than Previously Thought

A new study suggests that our solar system’s smallest planet has shrunk by up to 30 percent since its birth roughly 4.5 billion years ago

Researchers looked at changes in the volume of gray matter, which is made mostly of nerve cell bodies and located in the brain's wrinkly outer layer.

The Brain Shrinks as We Age and During Major Transitions. But Surprisingly, It Seems to Take a Break From Rewiring During Menopause

Puberty, pregnancy and menopause are the three major hormonal transitions for the female brain. Researchers already knew that during the first two, the organ fine-tunes itself in response to hormonal shifts, but they haven’t been sure about the third

Men ages 55 and older were disproportionately affected, the researchers found.

Alcohol-Related Cancer Deaths Have More Than Doubled in the United States Over the Past 30 Years, Study Suggests

While scientists say their findings don’t necessarily mean you need to cut alcohol from your life entirely, knowing the potential risks—especially if you’re already at an elevated risk of developing cancer—can help guide your decisions

A side view of a "xenocortical" mouse brain, with the grafted human tissue seen in green and red.

Scientists Created Mice With Half-Human Brains. The Hybrid Animals Could Revolutionize Our Understanding of Neurological Disorders

Our brains and their associated diseases are notoriously hard to study. So researchers developed an animal model with a cortex—the brain’s outer layer—grown from human-derived cells

A pack of wild dogs in South Africa

Three Wild Dogs Made a Record-Breaking Trek Across Zambia, Traveling More Than 2,500 Miles in Search of Mates

The canines achieved the longest recorded movement by any African mammal. Their journey highlights the importance of having protected corridors for wildlife

This photo of an adult male seahorse with two juveniles earned Julien Anton the overall Ocean Photographer of the Year award and first place in the wildlife category.

See Nine Stunning Images from This Year’s Ocean Photographer of the Year Contest That Show the Majesty of Marine Life

From seahorse farewells to saving a stranded whale, the photos capture the diversity and beauty of sea creatures—but also the perils they face

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