Katya Zimmer

Deep Sleep Is This Mammal’s Super Power Few Mammals Sleep as Deeply as the Ampurta: How a threatened Australian marsupial is thriving in the face of drought.

A rare piece of good news: New research reveals how the Ampurta - a small carnivorous Australian marsupial - is thriving despite drought conditions. My story for @nautil.us showcases its nifty drought-resisting tricks that made this feat possible

nautil.us/deep-sleep-i...

The Big Bad Wolf Is Afraid of You

The Big Bad Wolf is Afraid of You. Fascinating experiment on wild wolves in Poland. By me for @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/s...

How Human Medicines Are Disrupting Aquatic Ecosystems More drugs are entering aquatic habitats. Scientists are teasing apart how they influence the behavior, reproduction, and biology of organisms that live there.

Around the world, growing quantities of drugs are excreted by human bodies and slip, along with wastewater, into lakes and rivers. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social explores how this is influencing the behavior, reproduction and biology of aquatic animals

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

There’s more to seed banks—efforts to preserve threatened plants—than simply storing the seeds safely, @katarinazimmer.bsky.social explains:

buff.ly/tG23nqq

Canadian Scientists: Are Trump's cuts to science impacting you?

Writing a news story for Nature about the impacts of US government cuts to science on Canadian science and scientists. If you are a Canadian scientist affected by Trump's funding cuts to science or other impacts, please get in touch via my contact form: www.lesleyevansogden.com

Please repost.

The surprisingly tricky art of seed banking To safeguard threatened plants, science must unravel the hidden biology of often-persnickety seeds as they age, sleep and awaken

For a look at the latest techniques for keeping plant material for the future, cryopreservation among them, read @katarinazimmer.bsky.social's recent story. knowmag.org/3Zfy8w6

Thanks so much for your helpful insights on this issue, Emma!

Thanks so much for sharing!

‘Lipstick on a pig’: how to fight back against a peer-review bully Scientific societies, journals, editors and researchers are pushing back against mean-spirited peer reviews.

‘Lipstick on a pig’: how to fight back against a peer-review bully @nature.com @katarinazimmer.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘Lipstick on a pig’: how to fight back against a peer-review bully Scientific societies, journals, editors and researchers are pushing back against mean-spirited peer reviews.

It was great to chat with @katarinazimmer.bsky.social for her important article on discrimination and microagressions in peer review.

Without system-wide changes, we must rely on individual action - if you experience this behaviour, inform the editorial team ✏️

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Thank you so much for speaking with me!

How Human Medicines Are Disrupting Aquatic Ecosystems More drugs are entering aquatic habitats. Scientists are teasing apart how they influence the behavior, reproduction, and biology of organisms that live there.

Thank you @katarinazimmer.bsky.social for interviewing me, along with many other experts, for this insightful piece "How Human Medicines Are Disrupting Aquatic Ecosystems" | ACS Central Science pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/....

Just like humans, many animals get more aggressive in the heat From salamanders to monkeys, many species get more violent at warmer temperatures — a trend that may shape their social structures as the world warms.

Humans aren't the only animals that get irritable and angry when it's too warm. In this fun story for @sciencenews.bsky.social - which features an experiment dubbed "salamander fight club" - I unpack why many other animals respond the same way.

www.sciencenews.org/article/anim...

For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids Nigeria is pioneering the development of small, off-grid solar panel installations to bring reliable electricity to remote communities — setting a model for other African countries

Long-Form Feature Content > Consumer

☀️ ”For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids” | Victoria Uwemedimo and @katarinazimmer.bsky.social

Love story but it's not by me!

Why the Amazon rainforest doesn’t really produce 20% of the world’s oxygen The myth that the Amazon rainforest forms the “lungs of the Earth” is overstated. Here’s what scientists say.

Great to see an old piece of mine making the rounds again, where I explain why the Amazon rainforest does not produce 20% of the world's oxygen. (In fact, the Amazon’s net contribution to the oxygen we breathe likely hovers around zero!)

www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/...

How noise sensitivity disrupts the mind, brain and body Though noise sensitivity is often dismissed by doctors, it can have long-term effects on our mental and physical health.

“Noise exposure has also been linked to a range of long-term health effects, including heart disease and diabetes – and noise-sensitive people may suffer the most from mental health impacts.”

✍️ @katarinazimmer.bsky.social, BBC Future
www.bbc.com/future/artic...

How noise sensitivity disrupts the mind, brain and body Though noise sensitivity is often dismissed by doctors, it can have long-term effects on our mental and physical health.

BBC Future let me write about how much I hate noise, and what being "noise sensitive" does to our health:

www.bbc.com/future/artic...

‘We have committed ourselves to this toxicity’ Matthias Rillig’s research reveals a range of impacts of microplastics on soil-dwelling worms, bacteria, and plants—some of which may even harm human health

‘We have committed ourselves to this toxicity’

Article about some of our work on microplastic, including the toxicity debt hypothesis

By @katarinazimmer.bsky.social

cen.acs.org/environment/...

Our body is a mosaic of fungi. Some scientists think they could be influencing our brain The fungi within our bodies may have a much greater effect on our health than we've long given them credit for.

I love learning about new scientific theories - like whether the fungi that inhabit our bodies could be influencing our minds and brains. My latest for BBC Future:

www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Hope the below helps!

Hi! I’m a freelance reporter writing a story for Nature Careers
about bullying during peer review & solutions to the issue, and am looking to speak with folks who have personal experiences. If you have a story you'd like to share, please write to me at katarinaszimmer@gmail.com. Thanks so much!

Super-resolution microscopes showcase the inner lives of cells Advanced light microscopy techniques have come into their own — and are giving scientists a new understanding of human biology and what goes wrong in disease

I had such fun writing this recent article for @knowablemag.bsky.social about the latest advances in light microscopy and all the surprising new things we're now learning about cells. Check out the beautiful images!

knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

Help a reporter (and her editor) out?

If you've dealt with #AcademicBullying during #PeerReview, please reach out to Katya👇🏻

Hi! I’m a freelance reporter writing a story for Nature Careers
about bullying during peer review & solutions to the issue, and am looking to speak with folks who have personal experiences. If you have a story you'd like to share, please write to me at katarinaszimmer@gmail.com. Thanks so much!

The surprisingly tricky art of seed banking To safeguard threatened plants, science must unravel the hidden biology of often-persnickety seeds as they age, sleep and awaken

Learn more about the surprisingly tricky art of seed banking with @katarinazimmer.bsky.social's recent report:
knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

How Fishing Could Change the Evolution of Fish Our appetite for fish can alter their bodies, minds, and behaviors

“Proving that fish are evolving is tricky, especially in the wild, as it requires long-term tracking of the animals’ genes. But experiments show that fishing does disproportionately target individuals with certain traits.”

✍️ @katarinazimmer.bsky.social @nautil.us
nautil.us/how-fishing-...

How the Biosphere 2 experiment changed our understanding of the Earth In the early 1990s, eight people tried to survive in a hermetically sealed glass structure filled with miniature forests, oceans and savannah.

In the early 1990s, a small team tried to survive in a hermetically sealed space containing replicas of Earth's ecosystems. Their trials and discoveries still have repercussions today, I report for BBC Future:

www.bbc.com/future/artic...

'It opened up something in me': Why people are turning to bibliotherapy "Bibliotherapy" has been soaring in popularity as a means of improving people's wellbeing. But getting it right depends on the book, and the person.

"Bibliotherapy" - prescribing people books to help treat mental health conditions - is soaring in popularity. But does it work?

I dug into this surprisingly complex question for BBC Future:

www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

@bbmwong.bsky.social Hi! I'm a reporter hoping to get in touch for a story related to your 🐟 research. What's the best way to reach you? Thanks!