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Hannah Thomasy, PhD headshot

Hannah Thomasy, PhD

Hannah joined The Scientist as an assistant editor in 2023. Her work has appeared in Drug Discovery News, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and Undark. She earned her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Washington where she studied traumatic brain injury and sleep. She completed the Dalla Lana Fellowship in Global Journalism in 2020. Outside of work, she enjoys running and aspires to be a participant on The Great Canadian Baking Show.

Articles by Hannah Thomasy, PhD
Biosensors for Colorectal Cancer
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Nov 1, 2023 | 4 min read
Engineered bacteria sound the alarm on a common oncogenic mutation.
Line drawings of Moungi Bawendi (left), Louis Brus (center), and Alexei Ekimov (right) from the shoulders up.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Quantum Dots
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Oct 4, 2023 | 3 min read
Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, and Alexei Ekimov were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work on quantum dots, which has applications in electronics and biomedicine.
An image of a pale, dead tree taken from the ground, so that the tree limbs stretch up into the sky. 
Certain Tree Species Are More Susceptible to Death by Lightning
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Dec 12, 2022 | 2 min read
Expected increases in lightning strikes due to climate change could alter the botanical composition of tropical forests.
A fossilized mammoth tusk sitting in a grassy field during sunset 
Woolly Mammoth Genomes Reveal Genetic Adaptations to Cold
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Dec 12, 2022 | 2 min read
Researchers identified mutations in genes that may be involved in fat regulation, fur growth, and morphology.
Photo of Ankara Jain in his lab
Ankur Jain Explores RNA Aggregations in Neurodegenerative Disease
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Oct 3, 2022 | 3 min read
The MIT biologist studies how RNA molecules self-assemble and the role these accumulations may play in diseases such as ALS and Huntington’s.
Newly hatched stinkbugs climbing over a pile of eggs.
Best Bugs: How E. coli Evolves into a Stinkbug Symbiont
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Aug 15, 2022 | 3 min read
Experimental evolution study sheds new light on the origin of animal-microbe symbioses and what it takes for bacteria to support their insect hosts.
A wire mesh garbage can has toppled over, spilling crumpled papers onto the ground.
Gone but Not Forgotten: Retracted COVID-19 Papers Still Cited
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Jul 14, 2022 | 5 min read
University of Wollongong epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz speaks with The Scientist about his team’s finding that flawed and fraudulent COVID-19 research continues to be cited.
Close-up of the head of the Aldabra Giant Tortoise. Her face is dirty from eating grass on a sandy beach.
How Slow Can You Go?
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Jun 23, 2022 | 5 min read
Two studies show negligible rates of aging in some types of turtles and other cold-blooded creatures, but that doesn’t mean they’re immortal.
Ribonucleic acid strands consisting of nucleotides important for protein bio-synthesis
Katharina Höfer Probes the Machinery of Bacterial Gene Expression
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Jun 13, 2022 | 3 min read
The molecular biologist studies how chemical modifications to RNA building blocks change the way RNA regulates complex cellular processes.
Tiliqua rugosa, sleepy lizard, on reddish soil in western Australia
Researchers Probe Genetics Behind a Lizard’s Odd Immune System
Hannah Thomasy, PhD | May 10, 2022 | 4 min read
Deletions in the sleepy lizard genome leave it without an important type of T cells found in most other vertebrates.
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