Jonathan Lambert

Staff Writer, Biological Sciences, Science News

Jonathan Lambert joined Science News in 2019 as a staff writer covering biological sciences. He earned a master’s degree from Cornell University studying how a bizarre day-long mating ritual helped accelerate speciation in a group of Hawaiian crickets. A summer at the Dallas Morning News as a AAAS Mass Media fellow sparked a pivot from biologist to science journalist. He has previously written for Quanta Magazine, NPR and Nature News.

All Stories by Jonathan Lambert

  1. Life

    If bacteria stick together, they can survive for years in space

    Tiny clumps of bacteria can survive at least three years in outer space. This raises the prospect of interplanetary travel by microbial life.

  2. Animals

    A single chemical may draw lonely locusts into a hungry swarm

    Swarms of locusts can destroy crops. Scientists have discovered a chemical that might make locusts come together in huge hungry swarms.

  3. Animals

    Some beetles can be eaten by a frog, then walk out the other end

    After being eaten by a frog, some water beetles can scurry through the digestive tract and emerge on the other side — alive and well.

  4. Humans

    When it comes to downing hot dogs, science says there’s a limit

    Humans may be able to eat only 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes, new research suggests.

  5. Fossils

    Tube-dwelling sea creatures may be oldest known parasites

    A fossil bed of clam-like animals from a half-billion years ago is covered in tube-dwelling organisms. These suggest the tube dwellers were parasites, scientists now report.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Ah-choo! Healthy sneezes, coughs sound just like sick ones to us

    Think you can tell a sick cough from a healthy one? Think again. New research finds the human ear isn’t sensitive enough to tell the difference.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Deadly heat: Expected by century’s end, it’s here already

    Instances of hot and humid conditions that threaten human lives are on the rise.

  8. Science & Society

    #BlackBirdersWeek seeks to open the outdoors for everyone

    The social media campaign #BlackBirdersWeek hopes to show the world the many black birders and nature lovers of color.

  9. Science & Society

    COVID-19: When will it be safe to go out again?

    No one yet knows when social distancing can end. Experts explain we need 'herd immunity,' which won't be easy and may come at a horrific cost.

  10. Health & Medicine

    WHO calls COVID-19 a global pandemic

    The United Nations’ World Health Organization has finally called COVID-19 a global pandemic. Here’s why.

  11. Health & Medicine

    The many challenges of corralling a coronavirus outbreak

    The Chinese government has quarantined millions of people in hopes of limiting spread of a new coronavirus. But no one yet knows how much this will help.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Serious virus emerges in China and is spreading globally

    A new viral infection emerged in December 2019 among people in Wuhan, China. The mystery illness has already killed at least 17 people and sickened many hundreds.