Rebecca Sohn

Rebecca Sohn

Rebecca Sohn is a freelance science writer. She writes about a variety of science, health and environmental topics, and is particularly interested in how science impacts people's lives. She has been an intern at CalMatters and STAT, as well as a science fellow at Mashable. Rebecca, a native of the Boston area, studied English literature and minored in music at Skidmore College in Upstate New York and later studied science journalism at New York University. 

Articles by: Rebecca Sohn

An artist's depiction of a brain.

New astronauts have changes in their brains after their first long-duration mission

By Rebecca Sohn published

Astronauts who go on their first long-duration space mission have differences in their brains compared with the brains of more experienced astronauts and non-astronauts.

Plants grown in simulated lunar soil on the left and in Apollo sample on the right, seen 16 days after planting.

Scientists grow 1st plants in moon soil

By Rebecca Sohn published

More than 50 years after the first Apollo samples were brought to Earth, scientists have successfully grown plants in lunar soil for the first time.

An image of Pluto taken by the New Horizons probe in 2015 with evidence for potential cryovolcanism marked in blue.

Ice volcanoes on Pluto may still be erupting

By Rebecca Sohn published

An area of Pluto that researchers think was formed from the eruption of ice volcanoes is unique on the dwarf planet and in the solar system, a new study suggests.

Bioscience Officer Jason Fischer harvests lettuce from a Lettuce Grow hydroponics greenhouse at HI-SEAS during an analog space mission, taking place on Earth.

'Space lettuce' could help astronauts avoid bone loss

By Rebecca Sohn published

Space lettuce could help astronauts maintain good bone health on long trips, a new study suggests.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly gave himself a flu shot in orbit in 2015.

How do viruses affect astronauts in space? Here's what we know so far.

By Rebecca Sohn published

Viruses can affect astronauts in space, even if they quarantine before launch.

physics

Stark racial disparities remain in US physics

By Rebecca Sohn published

Fostering and retaining racial diversity is an uphill battle in STEM, particularly in physics.

An artist's depiction of the GOES-T satellite at work in Earth orbit.

New GOES-T weather satellite to offer scientists sharper eyes on Earth's climate

By Rebecca Sohn published

The GOES-T satellite is ready to take its place as part of the U.S.'s most sophisticated weather and environmental observation system.

British astronaut Tim Peake gives a blood sample to help scientists understand why spaceflight damages red blood cells.

Spaceflight makes the body kill red blood cells and it doesn't get better after landing

By Rebecca Sohn published

Being in space causes the human body to destroy about 50% more red blood cells, leading to a potentially dangerous condition known as anemia.

Rocket scientists: they're just like the rest of us.

Rocket scientists aren't any smarter than the rest of us, science says

By Rebecca Sohn published

The phrase "It's not rocket science" is commonly used to describe tasks that aren't difficult or complicated. But are rocket scientists really smarter than everyone else?

NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn (at left) and Kayla Barron are seen outside of the Quest airlock at the International Space Station during a spacewalk on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021.

NASA scientists consider the health risks of space travel

By Rebecca Sohn published

Space travel is risky business, but NASA scientists want astronauts to be as informed and safe as they can be.

NASA and ESA are working together to discuss how to make space more diverse and inclusive.

NASA, ESA experts weigh in on diversity and inclusion in space

By Rebecca Sohn published

During a panel discussion on diversity and inclusion in spaceflight, NASA and ESA experts discussed different ways they could work to become more diverse and inclusive.

Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov holds the record for the longest spaceflight. Polyakov spent 438 days in space, returning to Earth on March 22, 1995.

Long space missions could cause brain damage similar to concussions, study finds

By Rebecca Sohn published

Staying in space for a long time can cause brain damage, according to a new study.

NASA offers teachers, schoolkids and their families educational resources about many agency missions, including that of its Perseverance Mars rover. This mosaic, which shows Perseverance and NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter, was created by citizen scientist Seán Doran using 62 images captured by Perseverance on April 6, 2021.

NASA helps students launch into new school year with space-related educational resources

By Rebecca Sohn published

As students head back to school, NASA is ready with resources for students, teachers, and families.

Student winners of NASA's TechRise Student Challenge could see their experiment ideas launched on suborbital rockets built by Blue Origin (shown above), Up Aerospace and Raven Aerostar.

NASA challenges students to dream up experiments for suborbital rocket launches

By Rebecca Sohn published

NASA is looking for student teams to enter its TechRise Student Challenge, which tasks students in grades six through 12 with designing experiments to launch on a suborbital spaceflight.