Katya Zimmer

What Is AI Slop Doing to Us? - ScienceStuff | iHeart <p>AI is everywhere these days. What happened to make it so powerful all of a sudden? And what is all this AI content doing to our brains? Jorge talks to three experts to find the answers.</p><p>See <...

It was a pleasure speaking with Jorge Cham for iHeartRadio's #ScienceStuff podcast about the perils of AI-generated animal imagery. While this content may seem cute and harmless, I argue they could have real consequences for our relationship with other species: www.iheart.com/podcast/1119...

Thanks so much for sharing!

Beating back the Aedes aegypti mosquito Scientists are taking a multipronged approach to tackle this dangerous carrier of dengue, yellow fever and other noxious viruses

Great read! Congratulations @katarinazimmer.bsky.social on your insightful @knowablemag.bsky.social piece exploring the remarkable biology of the Aedes aegypti #mosquito knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

Beating back the Aedes aegypti mosquito Scientists are taking a multipronged approach to tackle this dangerous carrier of dengue, yellow fever and other noxious viruses

Aedes aegypti is the “perfect mosquito”... to spread disease. Dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever, kill tens of thousands of people in tropical countries every year. And experts worry it could get worse.

More, by @katarinazimmer.bsky.social for @knowablemag.bsky.social 👇

Pachyderm Pharmacies - bioGraphic Scientists find that elephants who raid farms might be looking for medicinal plants, sparking a cross-species exchange of pharmaceutical knowledge.

Farmers in Gabon notice that elephants sometimes eat the leaves and stems of banana and papaya plants while leaving the nutritious fruit behind. Why?

New evidence shows the elephants may be taking advantage of plants' medicinal properties to treat parasites. Read more:

thanks so much for sharing, Albert!

New technologies offer hope in fight to save the world’s imperiled rosewoods News about the poaching and smuggling of threatened species often centers on products like tiger bone, rhino horn or pangolin scales. But much of the world’s illegally sourced wildlife products are ac...

The most valuable illegally traded wildlife product is not tiger bone. Nor is it rhino horn, or pangolin scales. It's actually rosewood. For @mongabay.com I looked into new technologies - from AI to DNA metabarcoding - that could help end the rosewood heist:

news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-...

How plant-eaters snag their essential amino acids Early in evolution, we animals lost the ability to manufacture nine of the 20 building blocks needed to make proteins. Herbivores evolved an impressive array of tricks to ensure their dietary needs…

“It’s really easy to make a wolf, because wolves eat basically what their body looks like. Their diet mirrors their body. But it’s really, really hard to make a moose, because a moose’s diet does not.” How do plant-eaters get their protein fix? @katarinazimmer.bsky.social @knowablemag.bksy.social👇🧪

How plant-eaters snag their essential amino acids Early in evolution, we animals lost the ability to manufacture nine of the 20 building blocks needed to make proteins. Herbivores evolved an impressive array of tricks to ensure their dietary needs ar...

Early animals took an evolutionary risk: They gave up the ability to synthesize 9 of the 20 amino acids that living things need to make protein. Scientists are now learning how they ensure they get these amino acids from their diet.

@knowablemag.bsky.social:

knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

@jessehirsch.bsky.social Hi Jesse! Did you get my note about my plastics story?

thank you so much for sharing, Josie!

AI-Generated Animals Are Distancing Us From Nature | Atmos Cuddly polar bears and hyperrealistic chimeras may seem harmless on social media, but experts worry AI animal content can be harmful.

AI-Generated Animals Are Distancing Us From Nature
atmos.earth/science-and-...

“I think that’s probably one of the biggest issues—that it gives the impression that actually the environmental messages are less serious than they actually are”, Gosler.

AI-Generated Animals Are Distancing Us From Nature | Atmos Cuddly polar bears and hyperrealistic chimeras may seem harmless on social media, but experts worry AI animal content can be harmful.

AI-generated imagery of animals may seem harmless, but experts worry that it could worsen the public's understanding of wildlife, harm conservation, and even erode people’s general interest in nature.

Check out my latest for @atmosmag.bsky.social: atmos.earth/science-and-...

Animals that eat poisons and don’t die Critters consuming species that contain deadly toxins have evolved a suite of clever strategies to keep out of harm’s way

Lots of animals eat poisonous plants and critters and survive. How do they do it? I looked into this mystery in my latest for @knowablemag.bsky.social:

knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

For many species threatened by sea level rise, translocation may be the only way to save them. Learn how conservationists are moving rare tree cacti and threatened seabirds to higher ground and helping entire marshes shift inland, in my latest for @nwf-south.bsky.social:

www.nwf.org/Magazines/Na...

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!