Marina Wang

Horse science! 🧪

Why Aztecs Revered the Axolotl This 'water monster' was a powerful symbol in Aztec mythology.

In Aztec culture, axolotls represented transformation and duality. Quite fittingly—while one population of axolotls thrives as pets and lab animals, the wild ones face extinction in their native Mexico.

www.history.com/articles/axo...

The Ancient Origins of Kissing The romantic smooch is old but not universal.

With Valentine's around the corner, kisses be everywhere! The romantic smooch may be ubiquitous in Western culture, but many places around the world don't kiss and express affection in other ways. Here's the ancient origins of kissing:

www.history.com/articles/anc...

He's a meter long!

Meet ‘Baseodiscus the Eldest,’ a record-setting worm more than 27 years old Ribbon worms can grow to enormous lengths, and one named Baseodiscus the Eldest is showing how little we know about them—including how long they live

An inquiring student leads researchers to discover they've unknowingly held on to the world's oldest ribbon worm. This is the Story of B:

www.scientificamerican.com/article/meet...

Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz, Jan. 31, 2026 Can you sort 8 historical events?

Thrilled to come up with a history quiz for @nytimes.com! Featuring sausage bans and bees. 🐝🌭

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

What the length of raccoon snouts has to do with domestication - Soundside A new study suggests that urban raccoons are developing slightly shorter snouts than their rural counterparts.

Excited to chat about raccoon domestication on Soundside at KUOW Seattle! 🦝

omny.fm/shows/sounds...

🦇🦍🦉 Do you root for the weird, wild, under-appreciated species of the world? The slime molds and sunflower stars; the cormorants and caddisflies?

So do we. And we need your help! A donation of any amount goes straight to supporting narrative journalism about biodiversity. Pls spread the word! 🐢🐛🌵

Keeping Watch Over Seabirds at the World’s Edge | Hakai Magazine In Alaska, one of the longest-running and most comprehensive seabird monitoring projects is equal parts tedium, adventure, truth, and beauty.

With Trump pushing offshore oil drilling, including around St. Matthew Island (alaskapublic.org/news/politic...), it's a great time to re-up my story about oil and the origins of western marine science in Alaska, and how long-term monitoring helped reveal a different kind of oil "spill" there:

Triaging the Global Wildlife Trade - bioGraphic Can we take a more systematic approach to protecting endangered species from international trade?

CITES, an international body governing the trade of endangered species, is meeting this week to decide which species get protection.

But how do they decide, and what gets left behind?

www.biographic.com/triaging-the...

City Raccoons Are Evolving to Look More Like Pets City-dwelling raccoons seem to be evolving a shorter snout—a telltale feature of our pets and other domesticated animals

Here's the original: www.scientificamerican.com/article/racc...

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Meanwhile... Overweight Raccoon | Corey Does Bach | Parmigiano Reggiano Goes Hollywood

Guess whose story was mentioned on @colbertlateshow.bsky.social!
🦝
youtu.be/seMjC8vSLFY?...

City Raccoons Are Evolving to Look More Like Pets City-dwelling raccoons seem to be evolving a shorter snout—a telltale feature of our pets and other domesticated animals

With tiny hands rummaging through rubbish, raccoons are showing early signs of domestication 🗑️🐼

My latest for @sciam.bsky.social.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/racc...

City Raccoons Are Evolving to Look More Like Pets City-dwelling raccoons seem to be evolving a shorter snout—a telltale feature of our pets and other domesticated animals

I, for one, welcome our new trash panda overlords.

But for real, fascinating science on how we might be seeing the very early stages of domestication in action in wild animals. 🧪

By @marinacoladas.bsky.social for @sciam.bsky.social

Hunting the Most Elusive Whale Historically, beaked whales have been near impossible to study. But modern acoustic and genetic technologies are giving scientists new hope.

Beaked whales are the most elusive large animals on the planet. They live offshore, dive deep, and are nearly impossible to distinguish from each other visually. But with acoustics and genetics, scientists finally have inroads on how to study these mysterious whales. 🐬🔍

nautil.us/hunting-the-...

We’re doing this work because we believe that informed and inspired people will build a better relationship with the natural world. And we intentionally produce bioGraphic for regular people—not just politicians or professors—because it’s regular people, everywhere, who push our societies to change.

Triaging the Global Wildlife Trade - bioGraphic Can we take a more systematic approach to protecting endangered species from international trade?

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is the world's largest agreement overseeing wildlife trafficking. Yet hundreds of species slip through the cracks. What gets protected? And is there a systematic solution?
🦌🐼🐯

www.biographic.com/triaging-the...

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

You absolutely need to know about this fish that has Forehead Sex Teeth 🧪

Aardvark Burrows Could be Ground Zero for the Next Pandemic - bioGraphic Animals of all kinds mix and mingle in underground burrows, offering troubling opportunities for diseases to jump species.

In an alternate universe, I am an epidemiologist. What can we learn about animal burrows when we train cameras on them? Who visits them? Many curious animals and, well, that could be worrisome: www.biographic.com/aardvark-bur... 🧪🦤🌍 #conservation #biodiversity

Say It with a Beluga Bauble Wobble | Hakai Magazine Melon shape is to belugas what expressive eyebrows are to people.

Filled with blubber, a beluga’s melon is squishy with good bounce. They can make different shapes and movements with these fat stores, and scientists documented how different wiggles are used for communication.

#ThrowbackThursday to possibly my favorite comic.

hakaimagazine.com/videos-visua...

🦅💩🎥

And a big thanks to @amcglashen.bsky.social for sharp edits 🔥

Poop-Cam Footage Shows These Seabirds Fertilize the Ocean With Their Body Weight Per Day in Guano Recording Streaked Shearwaters gave scientists a new window into the role seabirds play in fueling marine food webs—and possibly spreading avian flu—far from land.

Bird poop is rich with nutrients and has a huge impact on the environment, yet scientists know next to nothing about scat at sea. Rearview poopcams strapped to shearwaters reveal a lot about these fowl movements.

My first for @audubon.org!

www.audubon.org/magazine/poo...

Poop-Cam Footage Shows These Seabirds Fertilize the Ocean With Their Body Weight Per Day in Guano Recording Streaked Shearwaters gave scientists a new window into the role seabirds play in fueling marine food webs—and possibly spreading avian flu—far from land.

There’s an exciting new poop paper, and @marinacoladas.bsky.social is on it. www.audubon.org/magazine/poo...

DO IT LADY

Scientists Discover World's Largest Hummingbird Hiding in Plain Sight Groundbreaking research has resulted in a surprising split of the species known as the Giant Hummingbird, and one of the birds just happens to be slightly bigger than the other.

Tiny backpacks in giant hummers 🥹

www.audubon.org/magazine/sci...

Welcome to the Great Bear Sea After decades of discord, Canada and First Nations are working together to build a network of marine protected areas stretching from Vancouver Island to Alaska.

It feels like we're going backward, but there are hopeful projects underway, like the MPA network off the British Columbia coast. If done right, it “could be a real, meaningful model for reconciliation” with First Nations. My latest in @biographic.bsky.social.

www.biographic.com/welcome-to-t...

To a Salmon’s Eye, Spirit Bears Have Natural Camouflage | Hakai Magazine Salmon are much more likely to avoid a black bear-shaped object than a white one.

#ThrowbackThursday
My first story for Hakai.
👻🐻‍❄️
hakaimagazine.com/news/to-a-sa...

Note to freelancers: I'm open to pitches for @nationalobserver.com! We pay pretty well, and we're flexible with timelines for assigned stories. I don't need a long pitch — think 2 paragraphs — but please give an idea of what your story is.

Some recently published freelance pieces:

My first story for New Scientist! 🐬

Turns out it's not just humans that like feeding other animals. The tables have turned.