Lucy Tu

Omaha

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Rhodes Scholar | @Harvard Sociology & Neuroscience | prev. @AAASMassMedia Fellow at @SciAm | Writer describing the extraordinary in everyday words. 🧬🥼

Articles

IVF Treatment Faces Threats from ‘Fetal Personhood’ Laws That Would Grant Fetuses Legal Rights

1 week ago | scientificamerican.com | Lucy Tu

President Donald Trump recently dubbed himself the “fertilization president” after signing an executive order that called for policy recommendations to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Why This AI Gazes into Goat Faces

Feb 7, 2025 | scientificamerican.com | Lucy Tu

The patient grumbled and grimaced, but he refused to speak to his doctor. The patient was a goat. Recognizing animal pain is notoriously difficult. To do so, humans must rely on subtle body language or behavioral changes. But a new artificial-intelligence model automates this process by identifying pain in goats—using only their facial expressions. The model, described in Scientific Reports, achieved 80 percent accuracy and offers a promising avenue for automatically monitoring livestock health.
New report sheds light on why young Asian Americans are 40% more likely to develop allergies

Jan 11, 2025 | nbcnews.com | Lucy Tu

Jan. 11, 2025, 2:00 PM UTCWhen Sharon Wong’s son was 4 months old, his skin erupted in itchy red patches, and he developed wheezing coughs that lingered for weeks. His first pediatrician dismissed the symptoms as a recurring cold. Then one evening, as a toddler, Wong’s son ate a spoonful of Thai-inspired peanut soup, triggering him to retch and claw at his stomach. Panicked, Wong called her new pediatrician, who recognized the signs of anaphylaxis.
Book Review: How Our Love for Citrus Shaped the Modern World

Oct 15, 2024 | scientificamerican.com | Lucy Tu

On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Citrus: A World Historyby David J. Mabberley. Thames and Hudson, 2024 ($50)The relationship between people and citrus is a millennia-long balance of push and pull, adaptation and adjustment. Botanist David J.
Book Review: How Our Love of Citrus Shaped the Modern World

Oct 15, 2024 | cargreen.es | Lucy Tu
Why Trump Is All-In on IVF

Sep 19, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Lucy Tu

For the past couple of months, Donald Trump has been working hard to prove that, as he said during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he is “a leader on IVF, which is fertilization.” And despite the jokes that ensued about Trump’s follow-up claim—“I have been a leader on fertilization”—Trump really has been trying. In August, he pledged to make IVF free to all Americans by requiring insurance companies or the federal government to cover it.
Book Review: Cryptography Is as Much an Art as a Science

Sep 17, 2024 | scientificamerican.com | Lucy Tu

On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Cryptographyby Panos Louridas.
Fetal Personhood Laws and Their Implications for Health Care

Sep 16, 2024 | jamanetwork.com | Carmel Shachar |Lucy Tu

In February, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a first-in-the-nation decision in LePage v Center for Reproductive Medicine, ruling that frozen embryos are equivalent to children and have legal personhood. The widely publicized case shined a new spotlight on states with laws that confer rights on embryos from the moment of fertilization.
Ultrasound Brain Stimulation Boosts Mindfulness

Aug 25, 2024 | scientificamerican.com | Lucy Tu

Even when you aren’t doing anything, your brain is relentlessly active—daydreaming, ruminating, contemplating the past or future. How this mind wandering functions can significantly shape a person’s internal conscious experience. In a recent study of 30 participants, researchers applied low-intensity ultrasound waves to a brain region associated with introspection and off-task mind wandering.
Review: How Henrietta Leavitt and the ‘Harvard Computers’ Launched Modern Cosmology

Aug 20, 2024 | scientificamerican.com | Lucy Tu

On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Attention Is Discovery: The Life and Legacy of Astronomer Henrietta Leavittby Anna Von Mertens.