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Joanna Thompson

Contributing Writer

Latest Articles

A sad woman stands under an umbrella that is decorated with images of brains, molecules and DNA. Rain falls on her under the umbrella but the day is otherwise clear.
neuroscience

The Cause of Depression Is Probably Not What You Think

By Joanna Thompson
January 26, 2023
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Depression has often been blamed on low levels of serotonin in the brain. That answer is insufficient, but alternatives are coming into view and changing our understanding of the disease.

A detailed scan of a zebra fish as seen from above.
developmental biology

The Gut Microbiome Helps Social Skills Develop in the Brain

By Joanna Thompson
November 15, 2022
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New research in fish suggests that gut microbes can have a crucial early influence on the brain’s social development.

synthetic biology

Biologists Use Genetic Circuits to Program Plant Roots

By Joanna Thompson
September 28, 2022
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Using inserted genetic circuitry, synthetic biologists controlled the growth of plant roots for the first time.

Closeup of the face of an electric eel.
evolution

Electric Fish Genomes Reveal How Evolution Repeats Itself

By Joanna Thompson
August 22, 2022
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By studying how electric organs arose in different lineages of fish, scientists gain new insights into a long-standing question of evolutionary biology.

Flying butterflies overlaid with the cobwebby pattern of a logistic diagram.
mathematical biology

Hidden Chaos Found to Lurk in Ecosystems

By Joanna Thompson
July 27, 2022
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New research finds that chaos plays a bigger role in population dynamics than decades of ecological data seemed to suggest.

Colorful opalized shell of a fossil ammonite.
geology

Life Helps Make Almost Half of Earth’s Minerals

By Joanna Thompson
July 1, 2022
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A new origins-based system for classifying minerals reveals the huge geochemical imprint that life has left on Earth. It could help us identify other worlds with life too.

About the author

Joanna Thompson is a science writer based in New York. She graduated from North Carolina State University in 2015 with degrees in zoology and creative writing, and recently completed the Science, Health & Environmental Reporting program at New York University. Her writing has appeared in Quanta, Audubon, Atlas Obscura, Vox, Live Science and Scientific American.
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