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. Animals

    Some electric eels coordinate their attacks to zap prey

    Electric eels were thought be to lone hunters — until researchers observed more than 100 eels hunting together. Their coordinated electric attacks corralled prey.

  2. Ecosystems

    Can people protect as much space as nature needs?

    To save biodiversity, nations are drafting a plan to protect 30 percent of Earth by 2030. Up for debate is how best to do that.

  3. Animals

    Touching allows octopuses to pre-taste their food

    Special sensory cells in their arms’ suckers sense chemicals. Those cells allow them to taste the difference between food and poison.

  4. Life

    One hummingbird survives cold nights by nearly freezing stiff

    To survive a freezing night, hummingbirds in the Andes mountains go very still, slow their heart rate and let their body temperature plummet.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. 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.