Freelance science journalist contributing to NYT, SciAm, Nature etc. Author of "Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking" (2018) and "I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World" (2023).
Rachel Nuwer
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Tobacco is one of the toughest drugs to quit, but psilocybin shows promise for helping people kick the habit. In the latest study, a single dose combined with talk therapy allowed half of participants to give up smoking.
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
Science mystery! Nearly everyone, everywhere, veers left when walking. Why??? www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/s...
@nytimes.com
Engineered microbes could help us clean up the planetary messes we've made, by degrading pollutants and recovering useful materials from waste. But realizing the powers of these technologies will require political will. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
We've been in a long-term relationship with pigeons for at least 3,400 years. We brought them around the world to serve us and be our companions - only to recently turn on them. The least we owe them is a little respect.
www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/s...
A better treatment for river blindness is available, but companies didn't pursue it because it's not profitable. Now, a non-profit pharma company has brought that new treatment all the way through regulatory approval without a commercial partner - a notable first. www.nature.com/articles/d44...
Emperor penguins, those icons of the Antarctic, are now endangered. As are fur seals. The cause is climate change.
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/c...
No truly effective treatments exist for cocaine addiction, and use of the drug is going up worldwide. Psilocybin therapy could offer a safe and effective solution for those looking to quit cocaine, according to the results of a first-of-its-kind trial. www.science.org/content/arti...
Japan's beautiful cherry blossom displays are fading as climate change takes hold. Trees in southern Japan are already failing to reach peak bloom, and experts predict Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo will soon face the same problem. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
Women's participation in STEM has risen sharply, yet gender gaps in first and last authorship — markers of key scientific achievements — have barely shifted over the past decade.
@nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
A Bay Area brewery just launched the world's first air-to-beer approach to carbonation. If the business model works, it could give the broader carbon-capture industry a boost. @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/c...
Nicotine is highly addictive, but new research is showing that psychedelics can shift people's worldview in ways to help them give up cigarettes.
A novel financing model rescued moxidectin from abandonment. The path to getting the drug manufactured and distributed exposes deeper faultlines in global health systems
Women’s participation in science has risen sharply, but a Nature Index analysis finds that gender gaps in first and last authorship — markers of key scientific achievements — have barely shifted over ...
