Will Sullivan

Will Sullivan

 

Will Sullivan is a science writer based in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in Inside Science and NOVA Next.

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, one of the radio telescopes used to detect the pulses from pulsars in the new research. The telescope started to fall apart in 2020 and was decommisioned.

Gravitational Waves Create a Constant 'Hum' Across the Universe

Breakthrough research suggests the continuous ripples in spacetime could be caused by pairs of supermassive black holes, spiraling toward collisions

Female Anopheles mosquitoes infected with the parasite that causes malaria can spread the disease to humans through a bite.

Malaria Spread in the U.S. for the First Time Since 2003, CDC Says

Five infections caught locally in Florida and Texas have prompted health alerts from state and federal agencies

NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan during a 2020 space walk at the International Space Station. Researchers theorize that the weightlessness astronauts experience on the ISS contributes to immune system dysfunction.

Why Astronauts Have Weaker Immune Systems in Space

Gene activity in white blood cells decreased once astronauts got to space—and it didn’t rebound until they returned, a new study finds

A photo of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption taken on December 24, 2021, before the biggest eruption on January 15, 2022. Tsunamis caused by the eruption killed at six people in Tonga and Peru and displaced more than 1,500 people on Tongan islands.

Tonga Volcano Sparked the Most Intense Lightning Storm Ever Recorded

Last year's eruption produced a raging storm at unprecedented altitudes, with 2,600 lightning flashes per minute at its peak

A coral reef in Honolulu, Hawaii. Half of global coral coverage has disappeared since the 1950s.

Coral Reefs Host a Vast Diversity of Microbes

A two-year expedition at sea uncovered more than half a million varieties of microbial life in Pacific reef-dwelling organisms

The Titan submersible. The five people aboard may run out of oxygen on Thursday morning Eastern time.

Crew of Missing Titanic Tourist Submersible Believed to Be Dead

Debris found near the historic shipwreck suggests the Titan experienced a "catastrophic implosion"

A chicken nugget made from cell-cultivated meat. The companies plan to start by selling their product to restaurants. 

USDA Approves First Lab-Grown Chicken in the United States

Two companies have received the green light to produce and sell chicken they have cultivated from cells

A boy looks at a water pump on a street in New York City. Between 1993 and 2010, researchers estimate that humans have pumped over two trillion tons of water out of the ground.

Humans Have Shifted Earth's Axis by Pumping Lots of Groundwater

Removing water from the ground has led to sea-level rise and caused Earth's axis to shift by about 2.6 feet between 1993 and 2010, per a new study

A three-to-four-minute exposure captures the light of a drone as it traces the shape of two cones in the sky along California's coast.

This Physicist Uses Drones to Create Giant Light Cones in the Desert

Evoking a key concept in relativity, Elliot McGucken traces out hourglass-like shapes in the sky that stretch as high as a seven-story building

Enceladus spews material from its ocean into space, which spacecraft from Earth can study to learn more about what lies below.

Scientists Find Phosphorus—a Key Element for Life—on a Saturn Moon

This is the last of six essential elements for life to be detected on Enceladus, giving the strongest indication yet that its ocean is habitable

A medical professional prepares a Covid-19 booster shot in Freeport, New York, on November 30, 2021.

Fall Covid-19 Boosters Should Target New Variants, FDA Advisers Say

The shots would no longer take aim at the virus's original strain, which experts say is not likely to return

The new research sequenced the genomes of more than 230 primate species, 58 percent of which are threatened with extinction.

What the Largest-Ever Study of Primate DNA Reveals About Ourselves

The findings cover not only conservation and primate evolution, but also human health and diseases

Researchers take sediment samples in the excacation pit in the Tam Pà Ling cave in Laos, where two newly uncovered human bones—part of a skull and a shin bone—were found.

Archaeologists Uncover Earliest Evidence of Modern Humans in Southeast Asia

The fossils from a cave in Laos, which date to between 68,000 and 86,000 years ago, challenge several ideas about early human migration

Astronaut candidate Bobby Satcher during a zero-gravity flight on an aircraft in 2004. The microgravity in space affects the human body and even changes the brain.

Space Travel Can Change Astronauts' Brains for Years

Fluid-filled cavities in the brain expand during spaceflight, and a new study shows that astronauts may need three years to recover

Researchers studied California two-spot octopuses both in the lab and in the wild for the new paper. 

Octopuses Can Rewire Their Brains to Brave Chilly Waters

To handle changing temperatures, the cephalopods make "astounding" RNA edits, researchers find

A picture taken in 2014 of the JOIDES Resolution, the ship used for the recent drilling expedition. 

Scientists Extract Rocks From Earth’s Mantle

They drilled into a mountain at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean

A hazy smoke over Washington, D.C., on Thursday morning, where air quality reached very unhealthy levels, with increased risk of health effects for all groups.

Canadian Wildfires Send Harmful Smoke Across Eastern United States

At least 20 states were air quality alerts this week, and in some places, air quality reached unhealthy levels for all groups

Researchers hope that an injection could one day be a faster and safer substitute for surgical cat sterilization.

Scientists Develop New Birth Control for Female Cats—No Surgery Necessary

The one-time injection of a gene therapy could eventually be used to control cat populations

Paleontologist Lee Berger, who led the new research, walks in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa, where the possible burial sites were uncovered.

Ancient Human Relatives May Have Buried Their Dead

Remains in a South African cave system predate the oldest known human burials by about 160,000 years or more

Stronger policies around ill workers could improve food safety, the CDC says.

Sick Workers Connected to 41 Percent of Food Poisoning Outbreaks, CDC Reports

Paid sick leave policies could reduce the risk of spreading disease, notes the agency

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