Meghan Rosen

Washington, D.C.

Life Sciences Writer at Science News

Life sciences writer at @ScienceNews. Usually reading, knitting, or eating ice cream. Email me tips at [email protected]

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Articles

A cup of chickpeas a day lowers cholesterol

3 weeks ago | sciencenews.org | Meghan Rosen

ORLANDO, Fla. — Beans are no fruit, but they may be magical for your health. In a small study, eating a daily cup of chickpeas lowered people’s cholesterol, scientists report June 3 at the annual American Society for Nutrition meeting. And a cup of either chickpeas or black beans per day reduced inflammation.
A diet full of tiny plastics triggered health problems in mice

3 weeks ago | sciencenews.org | Meghan Rosen

ORLANDO, Fla. — Eating plastic might muck with the gut. Mice fed tiny bits of polystyrene experienced health problems including metabolic issues and signs of organ injury, scientists reported June 1 at the annual American Society for Nutrition meeting. The findings add to a small but growing stack of evidence that ingesting microscopic plastic particles may directly harm animals’ health, says Amy Parkhurst, a molecular physiologist at the University of California, Davis.
Three U.S tick species may trigger a mysterious red-meat allergy

3 weeks ago | snexplores.org | Meghan Rosen

allergy: The inappropriate reaction by the body’s immune system to a normally harmless substance. Untreated, a particularly severe reaction can lead to death. arachnid: A group of invertebrate animals that includes spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks. Many have silk or venom glands. bacteria: (singular: bacterium) Single-celled organisms. These dwell nearly everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the sea to inside other living organisms (such as plants and animals).
Biden’s prostate cancer is incurable, but it is treatable

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Meghan Rosen

With Joe Biden’s recent diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer, the former U.S. president joins a growing group of people newly coping with the disease. Biden, 82, represents one of more than 300,000 new cases of prostate cancer estimated to occur in the United States in 2025. And the incidence of this disease, the most common cancer in males, is rising.
An at-home cervical cancer screening device was OK‘d by the FDA

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Meghan Rosen

Screening for cervical cancer many soon be possible within the privacy of your own home. On May 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Teal Wand, a tamponlike tool people can use to collect cells from their vagina. It’s the first self-collection device approved for at-home use in the United States and could broaden access to cervical cancer screening. The concept is simple.
A man let snakes bite him 202 times. His blood helped create a new antivenom

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Meghan Rosen

The first was from an Egyptian cobra. The second, an hour later, from a monocled cobra. Both bites occurred at his home in Wisconsin. Both were from highly venomous snakes. Neither bite was an accident. Friede let the cobras bite him on purpose — now, he’s logged 202 snakebites, in total. “It always burns and it’s always, always painful,” he says. After the back-to-back cobra bites, Friede had to be airlifted to the hospital and spent four days in a coma. “Was it a mistake? Yes. Was it stupid?
Dire wolves or not, these pups could help counter extinction

1 month ago | snexplores.org | Meghan Rosen

biologist: A scientist involved in the study of living things. biotech: Short for biotechnology, which is the use of living cells to make useful things. cell: (in biology) The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Depending on their size, animals are made of anywhere from thousands to trillions of cells.
Ozempic and Wegovy ingredient may reverse signs of liver disease

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Meghan Rosen

The diabetes and weight loss drug semaglutide may also reverse signs of liver disease. That’s the headline result of a new clinical trial that tested the popular medication in patients with MASH, or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. The disease is marked by fat droplets piling up in liver cells, chronic inflammation and scar tissue in the liver. But a 72-week regimen of semaglutide seemed to turn the disease around.
Three U.S tick species may cause a mysterious red meat allergy

2 months ago | sciencenews.org | Meghan Rosen

Cathy Raley’s first bout of hives woke her in the middle of the night with itchy bumps that crept up her arms and spread to her legs and back. Her second bout took her to the hospital. It was a June afternoon in 2017, and she was getting ready to take her dog, Jake, on a hike. The hives started suddenly, when she was about to load Jake into the car, but this time was different, Raley says. Her tongue was swelling, and her throat was getting tight.
The story of dire wolves goes beyond de-extinction

2 months ago | sciencenews.org | Meghan Rosen

Their names are Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, and they’re the first dire wolves to walk the Earth in over 10,000 years — or so one biotech company and a flurry of recent headlines say. On April 7, Colossal Biosciences announced what they called the “world’s first de-extinction,” the births of three dire wolves, extinct animals that lived during the ice ages of the Pleistocene. The pups were instant icons.