Rachel Nuwer
National Geographic
New York, United States
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Past articles by Rachel:
How the global donkey skin trade risks spreading deadly diseases
China imports millions of donkey skins from Africa to make traditional medicine. But the skins can carry dangerous diseases—a recent sample from Kenya tested positive for MRSA. → Read More
Mountain Goats Battle Bighorn Sheep over Climate-Limited Resources
Climate change may be leading to strange hostilities between different animal species over limited resources → Read More
Why Elephants Don’t Get Cancer
Elephants use 20 copies of a key cancer-fighting gene—and humans just have one → Read More
Two Cancer Patients Battle to Make Psilocybin Accessible for Palliative Care
Their efforts could benefit countless others in need of an end-of-life measure → Read More
Ancient Giraffe Relative Was Evolution’s Headbutting Champion, Perhaps Besting Dinosaurs
Natural selection propels the giraffe family to absolute extremes—and it is not just about the absurdly long necks → Read More
The Scientists Fighting for Parasite Conservation
Parasites play an outsize role in balancing ecosystems, and some species may be in danger → Read More
Fish Rub Up Against Sharks, for Exfoliation or Maybe Just Good Feels
Various species were found deliberately chafing on sharks around the world, though why they do so is not entirely clear → Read More
Natural Mosquito Repellent’s Powers Finally Decoded
Mosquito-borne diseases kill about 700,000 people every year. Lives can be spared by applying insect repellents, including a chrysanthemum flower extract called pyrethrum that humans have used for thousands of years. A new study in Nature Communications finally shows how pyrethrum works, with two components acting synergistically to deter the pesky bloodsuckers. Mosquitoes tend to develop… → Read More
The First ‘Google Translate’ for Elephants Debuts
An online animal catalogue lets you decode communications and other behaviors for everyone’s favorite pachyderm → Read More
How This Zombie Fungus Turns Cicadas into Horror-Movie Sex Bots
Researchers explore how an amphetamine and a psychedelic help parasitic fungi spread their spores through insects’ doomed mating attempts → Read More
Bird Brawlers Love Spectators—Other Avian Species Are Welcome at Ringside
Tufted titmice scuffle more vigorously in front of a crowd—even if some of the onlookers are woodpeckers → Read More
How Cher Helped Rescue the World's Loneliest Elephant
A new documentary follows the five year struggle to save an elephant named Kaavan from abuse—and seeks to inspire similar efforts around the world → Read More
The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Created the Amazon Rain Forest
Fossilized pollen and leaves reveal that the meteorite that caused the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs also reshaped South America’s plant communities to yield the planet’s largest rain forest → Read More
Vaccine Could Save Critical Tiger Population
Canine distemper threatens a key group of Amur tigers, but an unconventional vaccination program could help → Read More
Baby Talk and Lemur Chatter—but Not Birdsong—Help an Infant’s Brain Develop
Researchers probe the outer boundaries of what types of sounds human infants tune in to for building cognition → Read More
People Literally Don’t Know When to Shut Up—or Keep Talking, Science Confirms
We are really bad at navigating a key transition point during one of the most basic social interactions → Read More
The World’s Oldest Animal Paintings Are on This Cave Wall
Depictions of pigs found in Indonesia date back at least 45,500 years → Read More
Young Ravens Rival Adult Chimps in a Big Test of General Intelligence
At just four months of age, the birds performed equally well as great apes on understanding numbers, following cues and many more tasks → Read More
Presidential Debates Have Shockingly Little Effect on Election Outcomes
The upcoming debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump may be one of the least consequential in decades, experts say → Read More
Old Seaweed Reveals Secret of Monterey Sardine History
Decades-old specimens solve a long-standing mystery → Read More