Kate Wong
@katewong.bsky.social
Senior editor at Scientific American. I write about human origins, animals past and present, wildlife conservation. Birder.
Reposted by Kate Wong
Please do yourselves a favor and listen to these birds mimic R2-D2. (And learn something about how some species are able to do it better than others!)
(by Kate Graham-Shaw for @sciam.bsky.social)
(by Kate Graham-Shaw for @sciam.bsky.social)
These Birds Learned to Tweet Like R2-D2. Listen to the Uncanny Results
The lovable Star Wars droid is helping to shed light on why some bird species are better at mimicking sounds than others
www.scientificamerican.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Please do yourselves a favor and listen to these birds mimic R2-D2. (And learn something about how some species are able to do it better than others!)
(by Kate Graham-Shaw for @sciam.bsky.social)
(by Kate Graham-Shaw for @sciam.bsky.social)
Reposted by Kate Wong
True nightmare fuel: Scientists just confirmed the first known death from a severe meat allergy caused by a tick bite.
The man, who died in 2024 after eating a burger, had alpha-gal syndrome, a bizarre disease triggered by tick bites.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/man-...
The man, who died in 2024 after eating a burger, had alpha-gal syndrome, a bizarre disease triggered by tick bites.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/man-...
Man With Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Dies after Eating Burger
Lone star tick bites are the most common cause of alpha-gal syndrome, which causes severe allergic reactions to red meat
www.scientificamerican.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:51 PM
True nightmare fuel: Scientists just confirmed the first known death from a severe meat allergy caused by a tick bite.
The man, who died in 2024 after eating a burger, had alpha-gal syndrome, a bizarre disease triggered by tick bites.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/man-...
The man, who died in 2024 after eating a burger, had alpha-gal syndrome, a bizarre disease triggered by tick bites.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/man-...
🧪
A surprising diversity of dog shapes and sizes evolved long before the Victorians began making modern breeds
Dog Skull Analysis Rewrites Evolution of Humanity's Best Friend
A surprising diversity of dog shapes and sizes evolved long before the Victorians began making modern breeds
www.scientificamerican.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:33 PM
🧪
Reposted by Kate Wong
Clinicians are noticing a steady climb in diagnoses of ARFID, a type of eating disorder that presents as a food avoidance so persistent and pervasive it can cause severe malnutrition in kids and adults. More @sciam.bsky.social: www.scientificamerican.com/article/what...
ARFID Is More Than Picky Eating—And the Condition Is on the Rise
Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, or ARFID, can cause malnutrition and weight loss in children and adults even when body image is not a factor
www.scientificamerican.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Clinicians are noticing a steady climb in diagnoses of ARFID, a type of eating disorder that presents as a food avoidance so persistent and pervasive it can cause severe malnutrition in kids and adults. More @sciam.bsky.social: www.scientificamerican.com/article/what...
Reposted by Kate Wong
Now on @sciam.bsky.social: Did astronomers photograph UFOs orbiting Earth in the 1950s, years before human activity there? New peer-reviewed studies suggest the answer is “yes,” but skeptics say these conclusions are premature. By @astrojonny.bsky.social.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-...
Some Scientists See UFOs in Old Telescope Data. Others See a Teachable Moment
New peer-reviewed research reporting strange lights in the pre-space-age sky is sparking curiosity and controversy
www.scientificamerican.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Now on @sciam.bsky.social: Did astronomers photograph UFOs orbiting Earth in the 1950s, years before human activity there? New peer-reviewed studies suggest the answer is “yes,” but skeptics say these conclusions are premature. By @astrojonny.bsky.social.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-...
Reposted by Kate Wong
These were the dinosaurs that faced the asteroid.
Some of the last survivors. They lived in New Mexico, 66 million years ago. Among them was Alamosaurus, the size of a jetplane.
We unveiled them, and their true age, today in a new paper in
@science.org !
Some of the last survivors. They lived in New Mexico, 66 million years ago. Among them was Alamosaurus, the size of a jetplane.
We unveiled them, and their true age, today in a new paper in
@science.org !
October 23, 2025 at 6:32 PM
These were the dinosaurs that faced the asteroid.
Some of the last survivors. They lived in New Mexico, 66 million years ago. Among them was Alamosaurus, the size of a jetplane.
We unveiled them, and their true age, today in a new paper in
@science.org !
Some of the last survivors. They lived in New Mexico, 66 million years ago. Among them was Alamosaurus, the size of a jetplane.
We unveiled them, and their true age, today in a new paper in
@science.org !
Please enjoy this female Golden-crowned Kinglet eating a hover fly(?). I saw her in Cape May, New Jersey, the other day. Kinglets are usually pretty frenetic. This one was so focused on holding onto her meal that she slowed down enough for a photo. Look at her cute orange feet! 🪶
Image: Kate Wong
Image: Kate Wong
October 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Please enjoy this female Golden-crowned Kinglet eating a hover fly(?). I saw her in Cape May, New Jersey, the other day. Kinglets are usually pretty frenetic. This one was so focused on holding onto her meal that she slowed down enough for a photo. Look at her cute orange feet! 🪶
Image: Kate Wong
Image: Kate Wong
Reposted by Kate Wong
When did big multicellular organisms evolve — and how many times did it happen? In my first big print feature for @sciam.bsky.social, I wrote about *extremely* controversial 2.1 billion year old specimens from the Francevillain, and the question of how to recognize life on a basically alien planet
These Enigmatic ‘Fossils’ Could Rewrite the History of Life on Earth
Controversial evidence hints that complex life might have emerged hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought—and possibly more than once
www.scientificamerican.com
October 15, 2025 at 11:28 AM
When did big multicellular organisms evolve — and how many times did it happen? In my first big print feature for @sciam.bsky.social, I wrote about *extremely* controversial 2.1 billion year old specimens from the Francevillain, and the question of how to recognize life on a basically alien planet
Reposted by Kate Wong
Proud to share a new piece in Scientific American co-authored with the brilliant @lnwilson.bsky.social , edited by @katewong.bsky.social, and featuring this spectacular depiction of the endless daylight of the Cretaceous summer in Alaska by Chase Stone!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
Bird Migration Is One of Nature’s Greatest Spectacles. Paleontologists Just Found Clues to Its Origin
Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed
www.scientificamerican.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Proud to share a new piece in Scientific American co-authored with the brilliant @lnwilson.bsky.social , edited by @katewong.bsky.social, and featuring this spectacular depiction of the endless daylight of the Cretaceous summer in Alaska by Chase Stone!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
Reposted by Kate Wong
Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org
The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...
www.nobelprize.org
October 8, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
Wow—thank you @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social for investigating this video. When I saw it a few weeks ago I wondered whether it was legit. It’s absolutely incredible!
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Wow—thank you @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social for investigating this video. When I saw it a few weeks ago I wondered whether it was legit. It’s absolutely incredible!
I love this whole wonderfully evocative thread about Ötzi the Iceman and his final journey so much 😍😭🧪
#OTD 19 September 1991, walkers in the high Ötztal alps on the Italian border, found a body melting out of the ice. It turned out to be the remains of a c.5200 year old man preserved with all his kit.
Of course, it was essential to replicate him in Playmobil.
1🧵
#PlaymobilÖtzi
#PlaymobilInfestation
Of course, it was essential to replicate him in Playmobil.
1🧵
#PlaymobilÖtzi
#PlaymobilInfestation
September 19, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I love this whole wonderfully evocative thread about Ötzi the Iceman and his final journey so much 😍😭🧪
Chimpanzees get a surprising amount of alcohol from the fruit they eat. This discovery might bolster the "drunken monkey hypothesis" for humanity's love of liquor 🧪🍸
Chimpanzee Consumption of Boozy Fruit May Illuminate Roots of Humanity’s Love of Alcohol
Wild chimps ingest the equivalent of multiple alcoholic beverages a day
www.scientificamerican.com
September 17, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Chimpanzees get a surprising amount of alcohol from the fruit they eat. This discovery might bolster the "drunken monkey hypothesis" for humanity's love of liquor 🧪🍸
Reposted by Kate Wong
Right now, millions of birds are migrating south before the onset of the boreal winter. @ksepkalab.bsky.social and I explore the evolutionary origins of this amazing behavior in our article for @sciam.bsky.social!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
Bird Migration Is One of Nature’s Greatest Spectacles. Paleontologists Just Found Clues to Its Origin
Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed
www.scientificamerican.com
September 17, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Right now, millions of birds are migrating south before the onset of the boreal winter. @ksepkalab.bsky.social and I explore the evolutionary origins of this amazing behavior in our article for @sciam.bsky.social!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
I loved talking with Marty Martin and Art Woods about how our understanding of human origins has evolved since 1845 for their excellent podcast, Big Biology 🧪
Were Homo Sapiens special, lucky, or both?
In our newest episode Kate Wong, science writer and senior editor for Scientific American digs into the origins of humans, evidence of language, the history of tool use and more!
@katewong.bsky.social
In our newest episode Kate Wong, science writer and senior editor for Scientific American digs into the origins of humans, evidence of language, the history of tool use and more!
@katewong.bsky.social
September 15, 2025 at 3:17 PM
I loved talking with Marty Martin and Art Woods about how our understanding of human origins has evolved since 1845 for their excellent podcast, Big Biology 🧪
Reposted by Kate Wong
The LIGO project is one of the coolest things going, and the Trump admin wants to effectively cancel it. Here's hoping it can keep on making amazing discoveries like this one 🧪
A Black Hole Collision Shows Einstein and Hawking Were Right
Spacetime ripples from a black hole collision across the cosmos have confirmed weird aspects of black hole physics
www.scientificamerican.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:59 PM
The LIGO project is one of the coolest things going, and the Trump admin wants to effectively cancel it. Here's hoping it can keep on making amazing discoveries like this one 🧪
Reposted by Kate Wong
You absolutely need to know about this fish that has Forehead Sex Teeth 🧪
Behold the Gloriously Weird Spotted Ratfish. It Has Teeth on Its Forehead for Sex
Researchers have finally traced the origin of the spotted ratfish’s bizarre forehead teeth, which are used for mating
www.scientificamerican.com
September 5, 2025 at 6:16 PM
You absolutely need to know about this fish that has Forehead Sex Teeth 🧪
Reposted by Kate Wong
Look, who are you to judge the spotted ratfish and it's personal kinks. It likes things a little spicy. So what?
Researchers have finally traced the origin of the spotted ratfish’s bizarre forehead teeth, which are used for mating
Behold the Gloriously Weird Spotted Ratfish. It Has Teeth on Its Forehead for Sex
Researchers have finally traced the origin of the spotted ratfish’s bizarre forehead teeth, which are used for mating
www.scientificamerican.com
September 5, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Look, who are you to judge the spotted ratfish and it's personal kinks. It likes things a little spicy. So what?
Behold the gloriously weird Spotted Ratfish. It has teeth on its forehead for sex. The teeth line a cartilaginous appendage called a tenaculum that in males can be erected and used to grasp a female during mating 🧪
New paper is officially out!
Ratfish have a second jaw on their foreheads - CT + histology show they’re real teeth, built from the same tissues and signals as oral teeth.
www.washington.edu/news/2025/09...
Ratfish have a second jaw on their foreheads - CT + histology show they’re real teeth, built from the same tissues and signals as oral teeth.
www.washington.edu/news/2025/09...
This common fish has an uncommon feature: forehead teeth, used for mating
New findings call into question one of the core assumptions about teeth. Adult male spotted ratfish, a shark-like species native to the eastern Pacific Ocean, have rows of teeth on top of their heads,...
www.washington.edu
September 4, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Behold the gloriously weird Spotted Ratfish. It has teeth on its forehead for sex. The teeth line a cartilaginous appendage called a tenaculum that in males can be erected and used to grasp a female during mating 🧪
Reposted by Kate Wong
I wrote about how Hurricane Katrina helped spur pretty remarkable improvements in hurricane forecasts since 20 years ago and how current and planned budget cuts by the Trump administration to research could set us back.
Katrina Helped Revolutionize Hurricane Forecasting. Budget Cuts May Set Us Back
Hurricane forecasts have made huge leaps since Katrina hit 20 years ago, but that progress is threatened by Trump administration cuts to research
www.scientificamerican.com
August 29, 2025 at 2:31 PM
I wrote about how Hurricane Katrina helped spur pretty remarkable improvements in hurricane forecasts since 20 years ago and how current and planned budget cuts by the Trump administration to research could set us back.
Reposted by Kate Wong
It's Scientific American's 180th birthday! To celebrate we have stories on 180-degree turns in science--times when scientists did an about-face in light of new evidence. My essay looks at how the notion of human uniqueness has evolved. Turns out a lot of other species share our "special" abilities 🧪
Whales Mourn, Birds Show Self-Awareness, Plants Remember—Are Humans Really So Special?
Other species exhibit capabilities that were once thought to be exclusive to Homo sapiens
www.scientificamerican.com
August 28, 2025 at 5:42 PM
It's Scientific American's 180th birthday! To celebrate we have stories on 180-degree turns in science--times when scientists did an about-face in light of new evidence. My essay looks at how the notion of human uniqueness has evolved. Turns out a lot of other species share our "special" abilities 🧪
It's Scientific American's 180th birthday! To celebrate we have stories on 180-degree turns in science--times when scientists did an about-face in light of new evidence. My essay looks at how the notion of human uniqueness has evolved. Turns out a lot of other species share our "special" abilities 🧪
Whales Mourn, Birds Show Self-Awareness, Plants Remember—Are Humans Really So Special?
Other species exhibit capabilities that were once thought to be exclusive to Homo sapiens
www.scientificamerican.com
August 28, 2025 at 5:42 PM
It's Scientific American's 180th birthday! To celebrate we have stories on 180-degree turns in science--times when scientists did an about-face in light of new evidence. My essay looks at how the notion of human uniqueness has evolved. Turns out a lot of other species share our "special" abilities 🧪
Feast your eyes on this spectacularly spiky ankylosaur 😍 🧪
Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!
August 27, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Feast your eyes on this spectacularly spiky ankylosaur 😍 🧪
Reposted by Kate Wong
I have a real shitshow of a science story here for all my friends: 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/thes...
This Superpooper Seabird Is Amazing Scientists
The first detailed observation of the bathroom habits of Streaked Shearwaters at sea leave scientists with a surprising load of questions
www.scientificamerican.com
August 18, 2025 at 3:10 PM
I have a real shitshow of a science story here for all my friends: 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/thes...