Hannah Waters
banner
hanner.bsky.social
Hannah Waters
@hanner.bsky.social
biology editor @quantamagazine.bsky.social ~ pitch biology stories: [email protected] ~ quantamagazine.org/biology
Pinned
Hii! Last week Quanta published a project I've been working on all year — a special issue about climate science, or what research into climate change is revealing about how our planet works www.quantamagazine.org/how-we-came-...
How We Came To Know Earth | Quanta Magazine
Climate science is the most significant scientific collaboration in history. This series from Quanta Magazine guides you through basic climate science — from quantum effects to ancient hothouses, from...
www.quantamagazine.org
Come hang out and chat New York City birding with me and @ryangoldberg.bsky.social — and read his new book! Tomorrow night in Ditmas Park.
If you're in Brooklyn, I'll be discussing my new book tomorrow with @hanner.bsky.social at the great indy bookstore Taylor & Co. Books in Ditmas Park. It starts at 7:30pm.

Plus! On Thursday I'll be at the Hoboken Library, and on Saturday at the Montauk Library. Links to those in the comments.
www.taylorcobooks.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
If you're in Brooklyn, I'll be discussing my new book tomorrow with @hanner.bsky.social at the great indy bookstore Taylor & Co. Books in Ditmas Park. It starts at 7:30pm.

Plus! On Thursday I'll be at the Hoboken Library, and on Saturday at the Montauk Library. Links to those in the comments.
www.taylorcobooks.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
The cost of Trump's immigration surge: Stalled investigations into child sexual abuse, Iranian oil smuggling and human trafficking, among others. My latest piece is a big team effort on how DHS has been transformed into the Department of Deportation.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/u...
Homeland Security Missions Falter Amid Focus on Deportations
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
@thetransmitter.bsky.social presents a portrait of the state of neuroscience in 2025 through four lenses: its focus, its output, its people and its funding. Each view features analyses of major trends and more. Explore the end of year report: bit.ly/4oNeTVC

#neuroskyence #StateofNeuro
November 15, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Life Finds a Way, Even on Inactive Hydrothermal Vents

In the darkness of the deep sea, animals flourish on hydrothermal vents that have gone cold.

by Elyse Hauser

www.biographic.com/life-finds-a...
Life Finds a Way, Even on Inactive Hydrothermal Vents - bioGraphic
In the darkness of the deep sea, animals flourish on hydrothermal vents that have gone cold.
www.biographic.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Deep lakes across the world are changing. Mixing processes, fundamental to their health, are slowing — and in some lakes have stopped entirely.

@rachelnuwer.bsky.social visited the research station at the center of Crater Lake to find out why: www.quantamagazine.org/mixing-is-th...
Mixing Is the Heartbeat of Deep Lakes. At Crater Lake, It’s Slowing Down. | Quanta Magazine
The physics of mixing water layers — an interplay of wind, climate and more — makes lakes work. When it stops, impacts can ripple across an ecosystem.
www.quantamagazine.org
November 17, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
What I love most about this story is the NYT’s obliviousness to the fact that in other anglophone cultures the slang for tight male underwear or swimwear is ‘budgie smugglers’ www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
Man Who Stuffed Parakeets in His Pants Faces Smuggling Charge
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
I'm looking for a freelance editor to help on the Gizmodo science desk. Must be science literate, fast, flexible, and experienced with digital editing. Remote OK. Not a steady gig, but reliable work when it comes. DM or email if interested.
November 12, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Mixing is a fundamental process that functions like a heartbeat for lakes. But at iconic lakes around the world, climate change is slowing or even stopping that heartbeat - causing profound impacts to these very special ecosystems. @quantamagazine.bsky.social

www.quantamagazine.org/mixing-is-th...
Mixing Is the Heartbeat of Deep Lakes. At Crater Lake, It’s Slowing Down. | Quanta Magazine
The physics of mixing water layers — an interplay of wind, climate and more — makes lakes work. When it stops, impacts can ripple across an ecosystem.
www.quantamagazine.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:37 PM
So freaking proud of @maxlevy.bsky.social for his AAAS Kavli Gold 🏆 award for his feature about electrostatic ecology — how small creatures interact with electrostatic forces. Quanta's first Kavli Gold! Thanks to the whole team! www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-w...
The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology | Quanta Magazine
Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen and more. New experiments explore how evolution may have influenced this phenomenon.
www.quantamagazine.org
November 14, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Post a bird to support @sbworkersunited.org and warn your followers not to buy Starbucks for the duration of the strike 🪶
November 13, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta contributing writer @maxlevy.bsky.social has received a Kavli Gold Award from @aaas.org and @kavlifoundation.org for “The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology,” a detailed account of how small organisms use static electricity to their advantage.

www.quantamagazine.org/quantanews/q...
Quanta Contributor Max G. Levy Wins AAAS Kavli Gold Award for Science Journalism | Quanta Magazine
Judges from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and The Kavli Foundation recognized Quanta Magazine contributing writer Max G. Levy with a Gold Award in the Magazine category for “...
www.quantamagazine.org
November 13, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Funding alert: @grist.org is offering grants of up to $5,000 for reporting on rural climate issues and environmental justice in the United States. Newsrooms and freelancers are welcome to apply. Please share! grist.org/updates/gris...
Grist opens applications for new rural reporting grants on climate and environmental justice
Applicants can request up to $5,000 per project.
grist.org
November 11, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Oh, I love this. A new species of sea anemone was discovered recently that parks itself on top of a hermit crab shell like a hat. It seems to feed partly off the crab's faeces, but it also excretes a hard shell that extends the crab's home. In return, it's carried around the seafloor like a king.
November 10, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Interviews and photographs of many of the Venezuelan men who were tortured at CECOT prison in El Salvador. Essential reading. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
apropos james watson’s death i had an idle thought today about how stupid race/iq stuff sounds. “buh if your skin is darker you are biologically less smart” is a thing only a dumbass can believe
November 7, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Insect people! Does anyone know what this is?

(Seen in Madagascar.)
November 6, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
The end of an era: the Tree of Life Web Project is going dark after 3 decades. Anyone interested in communicating phylogeny online should read David's account of goals, history, and future. @bembidion.bsky.social
subulatepalpomere.com/2025/11/02/t...
The Passing of the Tree of Life Web Project
The Tree of Life Web Project began its journey almost 40 years ago, and was formally announced in early 1996. It has served thousands of pages of information about the evolutionary tree of life and…
subulatepalpomere.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
An amazing collection below of long form writing on climate science. Worth reading as we approach #COP30!
November 3, 2025 at 10:10 PM
“It’s like dealing with the Mob“ - How the U.S. derailed global talks on reducing carbon emissions from shipping on.ft.com/4hAl1xy
November 2, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
The Guardian is hiring for a graphics reporter and data reporter to cover how the US government is deleting and altering important datasets.

If you like the work we do, come join us!

Data: workwithus.theguardian.com/job-search/e...
Graphics: workwithus.theguardian.com/job-search/e...
October 30, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
More than 5 million people face an increased cancer risk because they live near a type of industrial plant that would have been subject to rules put forward by the Biden.

The Trump administration is rolling them back

By the inimitable @lisalsong.bsky.social

www.propublica.org/article/epa-...
Air Pollution From Industrial Facilities Is Far Worse Than Estimated
The Trump administration has put a stop to EPA rules that would have required more than 130 industrial facilities to install air monitors to measure pollution. Millions of people living near these pla...
www.propublica.org
October 30, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Finally someone bold enough to ask, is new york ready for a mayor who opposes slavery? www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...
October 29, 2025 at 12:30 AM