Rodrigo Pérez Ortega
Science Magazine
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Rodrigo:
Some dinos may have been as brainy as modern primates, controversial study argues
Experts welcome new neuron-density data, but say findings are premature → Read More
Cancer treatment predictor may not work in patients with African and Asian ancestries
Findings underscore need for more diverse study populations, experts say → Read More
Fantastic Yeasts and Where Bakers Find Them
(Inside Science) -- Sourdough bread has nurtured humans for thousands of years -- perhaps even more so during the bread-making hype of the COVID-19 pandemic -- and bakers have perfected the craft of making it over generations. Now, scientists are beginning to understand the identities and activities of the microbes in sourdough that are key to making a delicious loaf. → Read More
Improbable oasis
Pools in the Mexican desert are a hot spot of microbial diversity—and a window into early life. Valeria Souza Saldívar never planned to devote her life to a remote and ancient oasis more than 1000 kilometers north of her laboratory in Mexico City. But a call in early 1999 changed that. “It's one of the best cold calls I've ever made,” says James Elser, a limnologist at the University of Montana.… → Read More
Don’t freak out: These are the microbes living on your tongue
Bacteria form a microbial rainbow of well-defined groups → Read More
The microbes in your gut could predict whether you’re likely to die in the next 15 years
Two studies find strong predictive power of microbiome in complex diseases and death → Read More
This is the oldest scorpion known to science
Ancient arachnid could reveal clues about the evolution of modern scorpions and spiders → Read More
How a chunk of human brain survived intact for 2600 years
Unusual protein aggregates could have preserved the Iron Age brain → Read More
The Complex Case of the Seaweed That Is Drowning Ecosystems in the Caribbean
Researchers are learning how to cope with the arrival of the sargassum’s “brown tide.” → Read More
Microbes Can Change How Spiders Mate
Scientists show that bacteria have unexpected effects in spider sex. → Read More
Microplastics are Seemingly Everywhere, Even in the Remote Frozen North
(Inside Science) -- Human-made plastic waste is everywhere. It’s abundant in the ocean. It’s present in our soils and rivers. And now, it’s also in snow in remote locations.Although plastic bottles and bags can travel far and cause environmental damage, it’s the microplastics -- tiny particles sometimes too small to see -- that have invaded every corner of the planet. → Read More
California’s Wildfires May Be Too Much, Even for Fire-loving Woodpeckers
(Inside Science) -- After the fire, life rises from the charred woods in forests across the Western U.S. But too much fire might leave only ashes, at least for certain species. → Read More
Climate Change Really is Causing California’s Raging Wildfires
A new study links increased temperatures caused by climate change to California's worsening wildfire problem. → Read More
Duplicate Genes Let These Fish Switch Sex
(Inside Science) -- For most animals, sex is fixed at birth. But for some fish, changing sex is business as usual.A new study published today in the journal Science Advances reveals how a Caribbean reef fish called the bluehead wrasse completely morphs its sex from female to male. → Read More
Half of Costa Rica's Regrown Forests Are Gone Within Two Decades
Secondary forests are vital parts of the ecosystem, but in Costa Rica many of them are re-cleared before achieving old-growth levels of biodiversity. → Read More