Sarah Zhang

As I wrote in the story, the geography of the current outbreak means it's at a critical inflection point. We don't have enough sterile flies.

Well, yesterday, the USDA announced a new sterile fly facility in Mexico. Will it be enough? www.usda.gov/about-usda/n...

The ‘Man-Eater’ Screwworm Is Coming After a decades-long campaign to beat the parasites down to Panama, they’re speeding back up north.

...unfortunately, the barrier failed, and screwworms are now creeping their way back to the U.S. My story in @theatlantic.com about the current outbreak:

www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

America’s Never-Ending Battle Against Flesh-Eating Worms Inside the U.S. and Panama’s long-running collaboration to rid an entire continent of a deadly disease

A few years ago, I went to Panama to see the "sterile fly barrier" that keeps a flesh-eating parasite out of the U.S.

It's one of the wildest things I've ever written about it...

www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

The bad news is that outbreak is bad; the good news is a lot of stuff is finally happening at least www.usda.gov/about-usda/n...

🧵 Last year, I came across one of the most harrowing studies I've ever read.

It found that 1 in 4 unresponsive brain-injury patients—many considered vegetative—might be cognitively aware but trapped inside their bodies. Could this be true? What did it mean?

www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

The Mother Who Never Stopped Believing Her Son Was Still There For decades, Eve Baer remained convinced that her son, unresponsive after a severe brain injury, was still conscious. Science eventually proved her right.

There is a lot we still don't know—might never know—about the inner lives of unresponsive patients.

Ian's mom says his story is not a sad story though, and you may be genuinely surprised by some of the weird and funny twists of fate. Read it here:
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Other brain-injury patients have appeared to answer yes/no questions correctly in an fMRI machine, despite having no ability to communicate otherwise.

Like many people, probably, I came in knowing little beyond the Terri Schiavo controversy, and I found the boundary between consciousness/unconsciousness to be less absolute than I thought.

Vegetative patients, for example, have temporarily "awakened" and started speaking on Ambien.

The Mother Who Never Stopped Believing Her Son Was Still There For decades, Eve Baer remained convinced that her son, unresponsive after a severe brain injury, was still conscious. Science eventually proved her right.

I spent the past several months with the family of one patient in the study, Ian, who was injured in a car crash in 1986. His mother has never stopped believing he could understand her.

Today in @theatlantic.com, Ian's story:

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

🧵 Last year, I came across one of the most harrowing studies I've ever read.

It found that 1 in 4 unresponsive brain-injury patients—many considered vegetative—might be cognitively aware but trapped inside their bodies. Could this be true? What did it mean?

www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Ok is something going on with the supply chain for clear plastic bags?

I bought 3 different brands of "clear" bags from Amazon (ty NYC recycling rules) that were all white, despite old reviews w photos of clear bags. And our latest box of diapers also switched from clear to white plastic sleeves.

recently got some nice news — my magazine story about a cystic fibrosis breakthrough won first place for consumer feature in AHCJ's journalism awards

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

i have to admit, i think bone-in, skin-on thighs are great the day of, but they take on a weird leftover flavor the next day that i find very, very off-putting

something i was surprised to learn while reporting this story is that the boneless, skinless chicken thigh—staple of weeknight dinner recipes—was not actually widely available until the 2000s

IT'S THIGH TIME FOR CHICKEN

Bracket City The Atlantic covers news, politics, culture, technology, health, and more, through its articles, podcasts, videos, and flagship magazine.

if you are looking for distraction in these uhh tumultuous times, Bracket City is now on @theatlantic.com and it is the perfect fun-sized diversion www.theatlantic.com/games/bracke...

How Silica Gel Took Over the World Silica gel packets seem like the only thing keeping our packaged food crispy and our belongings free of mildew. How on earth did they all get here?

"Zoom in on a silica gel bead with a scanning electron microscope, and its smooth surface turns discontinuous...

That single gram of silica gel could have an internal surface area of eight hundred square meters—the size of almost two basketball courts"

www.scopeofwork.net/silica-gel/

The Texas Girl Who Died From Measles Her father tells her story.

"The vaccination has stuff we don't trust," said the father of the 6-year-old girl who died from measles at the end of last month. Tom Bartlett visited with a family confronting an unthinkable tragedy:

COVID Broke the Rules of Virus Evolution Why did this coronavirus change faster than scientists expected?

one of the things scientists got wrong at the beginning of the pandemic is thinking "the coronavirus mutates slowly." my look back on what happened and why COVID ended up surprising us so much.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

i actually reached out to her multiple times for the story and would have really loved to include her perspective. my article ended up focused on highly mutated variants from persistent infections, which afaik is not how we think D614G evolved, but i 100% agree her work was unfairly dismissed.

Not Everything Can Be Rebuilt Arthur made my childhood neighborhood magical. Now both are gone.

My neighbor Arthur made my childhood magical, and he died in the Palisades Fire. Here is my thank you to him, in @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Missed this last week—what a nice surprise to be among so many reporters I admire! ty @jasonmast.bsky.social

hidden in plain sight in the name!

America’s Never-Ending Battle Against Flesh-Eating Worms Inside the U.S. and Panama’s long-running collaboration to rid an entire continent of a deadly disease

I just can't stop thinking about this story by @sarahzhang.bsky.social

this big bloomberg investigation into the global supply chain for human eggs is incredible, and this scene about a fertility drug purified from the urine of postmenopausal women is especially wild

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

An I.V.F. Mixup, a Shocking Discovery and an Unbearable Choice Two couples in California discovered they were raising each other’s genetic children. Should they switch their girls?

This story--about two families whose embryos were switched in an IVF mix-up--was a privilege to report and write for the @nytimes.com . Their grace and generosity in the face of an impossible situation moves me to no end: www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/m...

okay but sometimes my stomach does feel like my brain so this is appropriate

unfortunately i realized in retrospect this description IT from A Wrinkle in Time

The Atlantic’s Sarah Zhang on covering the science and emotion of being human "I've always liked to think of myself as a brain floating through space...[but] our physical condition constrains and expands the way we think about ourselves."

i'll drop everything to read a new story by @sarahzhang.bsky.social and I am so happy @neeldhan.bsky.social interviewed her for @niemanlab.org!

www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/the-...

The Atlantic’s Sarah Zhang on covering the science and emotion of being human "I've always liked to think of myself as a brain floating through space...[but] our physical condition constrains and expands the way we think about ourselves."

fun to chat with @neeldhan.bsky.social at @niemanlab.org about journalism

topics discussed: the humiliation of living in a physical body, chartbeat brain, and how becoming a parent sharpened the way i think about covering health and science

www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/the-...