Elizabeth Svoboda

Contributing Writer

Latest Articles

Cellular Life, Death and Everything in Between

July 8, 2019

The discovery that apparently dead cells can sometimes resurrect themselves has researchers exploring how far they can push the point of no return.

Q&A

On Waste Plastics at Sea, She Finds Unique Microbial Multitudes

September 13, 2018

Maria-Luiza Pedrotti is illuminating the unseen worlds of plastic-eating bacteria that teem in massive ocean garbage patches.

Cores From Coral Reefs Hold Secrets of the Seas’ Past and Future

May 29, 2018

Layered deposits of coral skeletons hold vast stores of environmental data from thousands of years ago, including annual records of ocean temperatures, water pollution and storm activity.

Light-Triggered Genes Reveal the Hidden Workings of Memory

December 14, 2017

Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa’s lab is overturning old assumptions about how memories form, how recall works and whether lost memories might be restored from "silent engrams."

Can Microbes Encourage Altruism?

June 29, 2017

If gut bacteria can sway their hosts to be selfless, it could answer a riddle that goes back to Darwin.

Q&A

Finding the Actions That Alter Evolution

January 5, 2017

The biologist Marcus Feldman creates mathematical models that reveal how cultural traditions can affect the evolution of a species.

Below Our Feet, a World of Hidden Life

June 16, 2015

The soil teems with billions of hidden microbes. Researchers have begun to catalog how these organisms are changing the world.

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