Elizabeth Gamillo

Elizabeth Gamillo

 

Elizabeth Gamillo is a correspondent for Smithsonian and a science journalist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has written for Science magazine as their 2018 AAAS Diverse Voices in Science Journalism Intern.

Isaac Larsen, a geosciences expert at UMass Amherst, stands near a drop-off that seperates native remnant prairie from farmland in Iowa. Reseachers found that farmed fields were more than a foot lower than the prairie on average. 

More Than 50 Billion Tons of Topsoil Have Eroded in the Midwest

The estimate of annual loss is nearly double the rate of erosion the USDA considers sustainable

Researchers are most concerned with the disease affecting endangered species like these riparian bush rabbits.

New Vaccine Could Save Rabbits From Deadly Hemorrhagic Disease

Scientists have a new tool in the fight against a spreading virus that threatens the small mammals

The research team confirmed the comet's size with photos taken by Hubble Space Telescope in January 2022. The comet's nucleus is seen as a bright dot of light in the photos. With the computer model, the team removed the hazy glow of the coma to leave behind the bright star-like nucleus.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Largest Comet Ever Discovered

The icy object is larger than the state of Rhode Island and weighs an estimated 500 trillion tons

Mapping out where these RNA viruses are found globally can help scientists understand how they interact with organisms driving the planet's ecological processes.

Virologists Identify More Than 5,000 New Viruses in the Ocean

The new study focused on under-researched RNA viruses, which often infect animals and humans

The dinosaur leg fossil will be featured in an upcoming BBC documentary special premiering April 15. 

Paleontologists Find Fossilized Remains of a Dinosaur Possibly Killed in Earth's Fifth Mass Extinction Event

The leg bone is one of many other specimens uncovered at the North Dakota site

 The newly described jumping spider, Guriurius minuano, has a stripy pattern on its abdomen and large black eyes. (Pictured)

Scientists Identify 50,000th Spider Species on Earth—but Thousands More Are Waiting to Be Discovered

A new kind of jumping spider discovered in South America marks the major milestone

Greenland Sharks are found in the cold deep-water habitats of the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans about 2,200 meters (about 7,200 feet) below the surface.

A Brain Infection Likely Killed 100-Year-Old Greenland Shark Washed Ashore in England Last Month

It is the first known case of meningitis in the species

Perhaps the most prolific of the group, split-gill mushrooms produced "remarkably diverse" signal patterns.

Mushrooms May Communicate With Each Other Using Electrical Impulses

A computer scientist found the average fungal lexicon contains 50 words

Woolly monkeys have thick dense fur, and are found in the rainforests of the western Amazon River basin.  

Ecuador's High Court Rules Wild Animals Have Legal Rights

The landmark case involved a deceased woolly monkey named Estrellita

The cat-sized, butter-colored rodents live about 15 years on average, a much longer lifespan than what is expected for their size.

Yellow-Bellied Marmot Hibernation Could Unlock the Key to Longevity

The fluffy rodents stop aging when they curl up in their dens for winter and start again once they emerge in spring

The muscles that allow for the "puppy-dog eyes" in domestic dogs is undeveloped in wolves, suggesting that the adorable look evolved to captivate humans. (Pictured: The author's dog, Smoky.)

The Science Behind Those Big Ol' Puppy-Dog Eyes

Our canine friends evolved extra muscle fibers around their eyes and mouths that allow them to make facial expressions humans find adorable

Scientists found the smell ranked the most pleasant regardless of cultural background was vanilla.

The World's Favorite Scent Is Vanilla, According to Science

Some smells are perceived as more pleasant than others, which means preferences for certain odors could have evolutionary roots in our past

Out of the deer tested in Iowa between September 2020 and January 2021, a third of total white-tailed deer had SARS-coV-2.

Wildlife Biologists Prioritize Monitoring Wild Animals for SARS-CoV-2

The Covid-19 pandemic is driven by human-to-human transmission, but the virus is known to infect animal species

The Hubble Space Telescope detected Earendel after homing in on a magnified streak of light boosted by a nearby galaxy.

Hubble Telescope Spots the Most Distant Star Ever Detected in Outer Space

The star, nicknamed Earendel, is 28 billion light-years from Earth

Bats, rodents, hedgehogs, and shrews are mammals among the orders that are predicted to have the most undescribed mammals. (Pictured: a bicolored shrew)

Study Finds Hundreds of Mammals Are Waiting to Be Discovered

New species may be hidden in areas that have more comprehensive geographic ranges with high variability in temperature and precipitation

After analyzing the DNA of 50 domestic cats, researchers identified regions along the two genes that code for Fel d 1 that the team could cut and edit with CRISPR.

Researchers Are Closer to Creating Hypoallergenic Cats Using CRISPR Technology

The allergen-causing protein Fel d 1 was removed from feline cells using the gene-editing tool

Researchers turned to Mercury for the possibility of impact-born diamonds because previous surveys of the planet and molten rock found that the surface may have fragments of graphite, a carbon-rich mineral.

Mercury's Cratered Crust May Hold Glittering Gemstones

Fragments of a graphite shell from the planet's past and a series of violent meteorite impacts may have combined to form sparkling diamonds

Vampire bats are found in caves and forests throughout Central and South America and often prey on livestock at night for a quick bite.  

Missing Genes Allow Vampire Bats to Survive on All-Blood Diets

Genes linked to taste receptors, insulin secretions, and stomach were absent in the flying mammals

The near-complete dinosaur fossil was sold at auction at Christie's to an anonymous buyer in October 2020 and many speculated that the dinosaur was lost to science.

Stan the T. Rex Will Be the Star of a New Museum in Abu Dhabi

The natural history museum will chronicle the story of the universe and life on Earth with a focus on the Arabian Peninsula's flora and fauna

Researchers chose to focus on lettuce because the plant has been grown numerous times aboard the International Space Station and would provide a way for astronauts to eat fresh greens besides only canned and freeze-dried foods.  

Genetically Modified Lettuce May One Day Help Space Travelers Fight Bone Loss

The vegetable could provide fresh leafy greens to astronauts' diet while providing a new way to transport and consume medications in the cosmos

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