Joanna Thompson

Joanna Thompson

Live Science Contributor

Joanna Thompson is a science journalist and runner based in New York. She holds a B.S. in Zoology and a B.A. in Creative Writing from North Carolina State University, as well as a Master's in Science Journalism from NYU's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. Find more of her work in Scientific American, The Daily Beast, Atlas Obscura or Audubon Magazine.

Articles by: Joanna Thompson

Giant squids live in the deep ocean, and rarely wash up on beaches.

Giant squid that washed up on a South African beach was 'incredible to see'

By Joanna Thompson published

Residents of Kommetjie, South Africa were treated to a rare sight this weekend: a giant squid measuring 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) long.

Chimpanzees are adept at using tools in the wild

When humans are gone, what animals might evolve to have our smarts and skills?

By Joanna Thompson published

If humans suddenly went extinct, what animals are most likely to develop human-like societies?

Dark matter is as mysterious as it is ubiquitous.

Dark matter may spawn more of itself from ordinary matter, like a cosmic ice-9

By Joanna Thompson published

A new mechanism for dark matter creation could explain the current six-to-one ratio of dark matter to matter.

Researchers pinpoint the mammoth tusk on the ocean floor

Exquisitely-preserved mammoth tusk found 10,000 feet underwater

By Joanna Thompson published

Researchers discovered the 100,000 year old tusk of a mammoth off the coast of California

A UFO hovers over a forest

How would we give aliens directions to Earth?

By Joanna Thompson published

Giving aliens directions to Earth might be tricky, but scientists have some ideas for how to do it.

An artist's rendition of an HIV/AIDS virus

Patient's immune system 'naturally' cures HIV in the second case of its kind

By Joanna Thompson published

Two patients' immune systems have now naturally rid themselves of the infection.

Pingu the penguin is lost

Lost' Adélie penguin wanders nearly 2,000 miles off-course, ends up on New Zealand beach

By Joanna Thompson published

A lost Adelie penguin ended up almost 2,000 miles off course.

Some gold coins from the Norfolk hoard

Metal detectorist unearths largest Anglo-Saxon treasure hoard ever discovered in England

By Joanna Thompson published

The largest Anglo-Saxon hoard ever discovered in England was unearthed by a metal detectorist in Norfolk.

A human skeleton entombed in Peru

Ancient child sacrifice victims unearthed in Peru

By Joanna Thompson published

Wari tombs with ancient human sacrifices unearthed in northwestern Peru

This creepy isopod is serving as a prosthetic tongue

'Tongue-eating' lice invade fish's mouth in this year's creepiest Halloween photo

By Joanna Thompson published

Tongue-eating parasites chow down on fishes' mouths and eventually replace their tongues

Earth's inner core is made primarily of iron

'New hidden world' discovered in Earth's inner core

By Joanna Thompson published

The inner core of our planet is actually a mishmash of hard, mushy and liquid metal.

Elaborate stone patterns created by ice needles

Thousands of tiny ‘ice needles’ may explain mysterious stone patterns on Earth … and Mars

By Joanna Thompson published

Tiny natural ice structures help arrange stones into spectacular landscapes.

Abstract representation of cold atoms

Scientists just broke the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in a lab

By Joanna Thompson published

They did it by sending rubidium atoms into free fall

A phacopid trilobite with hyper-compound eyes

This trilobite was equipped with a 'hyper-eye' never seen before in the animal kingdom

By Joanna Thompson published

Trilobite with "hyper compound eyes" could see through hundreds of lenses, new X-ray study reveals.

Southern cassowary is found in New Guinea as well as Queensland in northeastern Australia.

These giant birds could eviscerate you. People were raising them 18,000 years ago.

By Joanna Thompson published

People were raising cassowaries, the world's most dangerous bird, some 18,000 years ago, new research shows.

Short-faced bears were North America's largest predatory mammal.

What were the largest predators in North America?

By Joanna Thompson published

Here are the largest predators ever to have lived in North America.

A leafcutter ant (Atta cephalotes) uses its metal-laced mandibles to cut through a leaf.

These vegetarian ants have steak knives for teeth, new study finds

By Joanna Thompson published

Zinc and manganese atoms keep tiny arthropods' natural tools sharper for longer.

The dead white-sided dolphins were pulled from the water off the Faroe Islands on Sept. 12, 2021.

Slaughter of more than 1,400 dolphins in the Faroe Islands sparks condemnation worldwide

By Joanna Thompson published

Hunters in the Faroe Islands ambushed and slaughtered a super-pod of more than 1,400 white-sided dolphins on Sunday (Sept. 12), leading to worldwide outcry.