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Marina Wang

@marinacoladas.bsky.social
521 followers 173 following 79 posts

Freelance journalist of science and other things weird and wonderful. Up for hire. Bylines in Hakai Magazine, Scientific American, Atlas Obscura, etc. marina-wang.com

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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In rainy England, it was once considered effeminate to carry an umbrella. My latest Flashbacks quiz: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz, Sept. 26, 2026
Can you sort 8 historical events?
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
😶 futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month
Brown Brothers Media is a media empire raking in millions of clicks with AI, fake writers, and plagiarism.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The Western conception of the phoenix, an eagle-like fire bird, largely traces back to single paragraph by Herodotus. My latest: www.history.com/articles/pho...
history.com
What Is the Origin of the Phoenix Myth? | HISTORY
The enduring myth of a bird reborn from its ashes spans cultures, religions and millennia.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I really felt like featuring men in high heels in this week's history quiz: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz, Aug. 22, 2026
Can you sort 8 historical events?
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Did you know House of the Dragon was inspired by real historical events? During "The Anarchy", a controversial queen attempted to claim her throne from a usurper. www.history.com/articles/ana...
history.com
The Anarchy Civil War That Inspired ‘House of the Dragon’ | HISTORY
Empress Matilda fought her cousin for the English throne in a succession crisis that tore the kingdom apart.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
An Ode to Jimothy 🧵 Tossing and turning, awake in my bed Visions of Jimothy spin through my head A small ball with limbs, so cute and fuzzy he seems to have the interweb all of a buzzy How does this raccoon, that sets himself apart, Enter our lives and pierce through the heart?
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Did you know the simple piano song chopsticks was originally called the "Celebrated Chopped Waltz" and was composed by a 16 year-old? And Confucius advocated for the use of chopsticks. 🥢🎹 More fun history in my quiz: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz, July 18, 2026
Can you sort 8 historical events?
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Terrible to hear that @sciam.bsky.social is switching ownership and laying off staff right before unionizing.
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Reposted by Marina Wang
Kate Wong @katewong.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Today is my last day at Scientific American, which has been sold to LabX media group. For three decades I've led the magazine's coverage of human origins, archaeology, paleontology, animal behavior, ecology, BIRDS. End of an era. Anyway this feels weird to say, but I'm now available for assignments!
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Carney’s government has gutted one environmental regulation after another: scrapping the consumer carbon price, setting aside clean electricity rules, ditching the oil and gas emissions cap, pausing electric vehicle mandates, and delaying rules for methane gas leakage. thenarwhal.ca/carney-canad...
thenarwhal.ca
Carney is ‘shredding’ environmental rules, ‘misleading’ the public: experts | The Narwhal
The government shut out its own climate science and policy advisors, they say, while gutting Canada’s environmental protections in favour of oil and gas
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Florida state policy allowed developers to pay a fee to pave over gopher tortoise burrows. After a public records request, conservationists found more than 68,000 of the threatened species were dying each year—legally crushed in their burrows by bulldozers or buried alive.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Modern soccer games dazzle fans with nimble dribbling, deft dekes and awe-inspiring goals. Yet those stunts would pale in comparison to the tricks performed in cuju, an ancient Chinese kickball game. ⚽🀄 www.history.com/articles/cuj...
history.com
Did Soccer Originate in Ancient China? | HISTORY
The ancient game of cuju included acrobatic feats, imperial patrons and a surprisingly gruesome origin story.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Take a break and do this fun quiz that I wrote: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz, June 13, 2026
Can you sort 8 historical events?
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Reposted by Marina Wang
Dejan Pantic @serbianism.com · 06/06/2026
Adorable young kestrels surprised by a butterfly.
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Tim Ford @timfordwrites.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
APPLY MY PRETTIES @simonplittle.ca @marinacoladas.bsky.social @brishti.bsky.social
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Japan is renowned for their razor-sharp kitchen knives, and many ateliers trace their craft to samurai sword smithing roots. www.history.com/articles/kat...
history.com
How the Samurai Sword Shaped Modern Kitchen Knives | HISTORY
As katanas fell out of use, blacksmiths turned to the culinary industry.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Two fins washing up in the North Pacific suggest orca-on-orca cannibalism. Scientists think that's why some orcas travel in big groups—for safety in numbers. My latest for @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2516...
newscientist.com
Cannibalism may explain why some orcas stay in family groups
Fins washing up in the North Pacific suggest that orcas from one subspecies are snacking on other orcas, and researchers think that may explain their different social dynamics
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
The Lion Dance is a quintessential Lunar New Year activity. In Malaysia, they've taken the tradition to new heights. www.atlasobscura.com/articles/lio...
atlasobscura.com
Malaysia Has Turned Lion Dancing Into a Gravity-Defying Extreme Sport
Meet some of the troupes taking an ancient tradition to new heights.
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Andrea Thompson @andreatweather.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Horse science! 🧪
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
In Aztec culture, axolotls represented transformation and duality. Quite fittingly—while one population of axolotls thrives as pets and lab animals, the wild ones face extinction in their native Mexico. www.history.com/articles/axo...
history.com
Why Aztecs Revered the Axolotl
This 'water monster' was a powerful symbol in Aztec mythology.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
With Valentine's around the corner, kisses be everywhere! The romantic smooch may be ubiquitous in Western culture, but many places around the world don't kiss and express affection in other ways. Here's the ancient origins of kissing: www.history.com/articles/anc...
history.com
The Ancient Origins of Kissing
The romantic smooch is old but not universal.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
An inquiring student leads researchers to discover they've unknowingly held on to the world's oldest ribbon worm. This is the Story of B: www.scientificamerican.com/article/meet...
scientificamerican.com
Meet ‘Baseodiscus the Eldest,’ a record-setting worm more than 27 years old
Ribbon worms can grow to enormous lengths, and one named Baseodiscus the Eldest is showing how little we know about them—including how long they live
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Thrilled to come up with a history quiz for @nytimes.com! Featuring sausage bans and bees. 🐝🌭 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz, Jan. 31, 2026
Can you sort 8 historical events?
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Excited to chat about raccoon domestication on Soundside at KUOW Seattle! 🦝 omny.fm/shows/sounds...
omny.fm
What the length of raccoon snouts has to do with domestication - Soundside
A new study suggests that urban raccoons are developing slightly shorter snouts than their rural counterparts.
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bioGraphic @biographic.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
🦇🦍🦉 Do you root for the weird, wild, under-appreciated species of the world? The slime molds and sunflower stars; the cormorants and caddisflies? So do we. And we need your help! A donation of any amount goes straight to supporting narrative journalism about biodiversity. Pls spread the word! 🐢🐛🌵
give.calacademy.org
Donate to bioGraphic
Support our cause by donating to bioGraphic.
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Sarah Gilman @sarahmgilman.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
With Trump pushing offshore oil drilling, including around St. Matthew Island (alaskapublic.org/news/politic...), it's a great time to re-up my story about oil and the origins of western marine science in Alaska, and how long-term monitoring helped reveal a different kind of oil "spill" there:
hakaimagazine.com
Keeping Watch Over Seabirds at the World’s Edge | Hakai Magazine
In Alaska, one of the longest-running and most comprehensive seabird monitoring projects is equal parts tedium, adventure, truth, and beauty.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
CITES, an international body governing the trade of endangered species, is meeting this week to decide which species get protection. But how do they decide, and what gets left behind? www.biographic.com/triaging-the...
biographic.com
Triaging the Global Wildlife Trade - bioGraphic
Can we take a more systematic approach to protecting endangered species from international trade?
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Guess whose story was mentioned on @colbertlateshow.bsky.social! 🦝 youtu.be/seMjC8vSLFY?...
youtu.be
Meanwhile... Overweight Raccoon | Corey Does Bach | Parmigiano Reggiano Goes Hollywood
YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
With tiny hands rummaging through rubbish, raccoons are showing early signs of domestication 🗑️🐼 My latest for @sciam.bsky.social. www.scientificamerican.com/article/racc...
scientificamerican.com
City Raccoons Are Evolving to Look More Like Pets
City-dwelling raccoons seem to be evolving a shorter snout—a telltale feature of our pets and other domesticated animals
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Reposted by Marina Wang
Andrea Thompson @andreatweather.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
I, for one, welcome our new trash panda overlords. But for real, fascinating science on how we might be seeing the very early stages of domestication in action in wild animals. 🧪 By @marinacoladas.bsky.social for @sciam.bsky.social
scientificamerican.com
City Raccoons Are Evolving to Look More Like Pets
City-dwelling raccoons seem to be evolving a shorter snout—a telltale feature of our pets and other domesticated animals
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Beaked whales are the most elusive large animals on the planet. They live offshore, dive deep, and are nearly impossible to distinguish from each other visually. But with acoustics and genetics, scientists finally have inroads on how to study these mysterious whales. 🐬🔍 nautil.us/hunting-the-...
nautil.us
Hunting the Most Elusive Whale
Historically, beaked whales have been near impossible to study. But modern acoustic and genetic technologies are giving scientists new hope.
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bioGraphic @biographic.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
We’re doing this work because we believe that informed and inspired people will build a better relationship with the natural world. And we intentionally produce bioGraphic for regular people—not just politicians or professors—because it’s regular people, everywhere, who push our societies to change.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is the world's largest agreement overseeing wildlife trafficking. Yet hundreds of species slip through the cracks. What gets protected? And is there a systematic solution? 🦌🐼🐯 www.biographic.com/triaging-the...
biographic.com
Triaging the Global Wildlife Trade - bioGraphic
Can we take a more systematic approach to protecting endangered species from international trade?
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Reposted by Marina Wang
Andrea Thompson @andreatweather.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
You absolutely need to know about this fish that has Forehead Sex Teeth 🧪
scientificamerican.com
Behold the Gloriously Weird Spotted Ratfish. It Has Teeth on Its Forehead for Sex
Researchers have finally traced the origin of the spotted ratfish’s bizarre forehead teeth, which are used for mating
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Jude Isabella @judeisabella.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
In an alternate universe, I am an epidemiologist. What can we learn about animal burrows when we train cameras on them? Who visits them? Many curious animals and, well, that could be worrisome: www.biographic.com/aardvark-bur... 🧪🦤🌍 #conservation #biodiversity
biographic.com
Aardvark Burrows Could be Ground Zero for the Next Pandemic - bioGraphic
Animals of all kinds mix and mingle in underground burrows, offering troubling opportunities for diseases to jump species.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Filled with blubber, a beluga’s melon is squishy with good bounce. They can make different shapes and movements with these fat stores, and scientists documented how different wiggles are used for communication. #ThrowbackThursday to possibly my favorite comic. hakaimagazine.com/videos-visua...
hakaimagazine.com
Say It with a Beluga Bauble Wobble | Hakai Magazine
Melon shape is to belugas what expressive eyebrows are to people.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Bird poop is rich with nutrients and has a huge impact on the environment, yet scientists know next to nothing about scat at sea. Rearview poopcams strapped to shearwaters reveal a lot about these fowl movements. My first for @audubon.org! www.audubon.org/magazine/poo...
audubon.org
Poop-Cam Footage Shows These Seabirds Fertilize the Ocean With Their Body Weight Per Day in Guano
Recording Streaked Shearwaters gave scientists a new window into the role seabirds play in fueling marine food webs—and possibly spreading avian flu—far from land.
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Andy McGlashen @amcglashen.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
There’s an exciting new poop paper, and @marinacoladas.bsky.social is on it. www.audubon.org/magazine/poo...
audubon.org
Poop-Cam Footage Shows These Seabirds Fertilize the Ocean With Their Body Weight Per Day in Guano
Recording Streaked Shearwaters gave scientists a new window into the role seabirds play in fueling marine food webs—and possibly spreading avian flu—far from land.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Tiny backpacks in giant hummers 🥹 www.audubon.org/magazine/sci...
audubon.org
Scientists Discover World's Largest Hummingbird Hiding in Plain Sight
Groundbreaking research has resulted in a surprising split of the species known as the Giant Hummingbird, and one of the birds just happens to be slightly bigger than the other.
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Serena Renner @serenarenner.com · 24/07/2025
It feels like we're going backward, but there are hopeful projects underway, like the MPA network off the British Columbia coast. If done right, it “could be a real, meaningful model for reconciliation” with First Nations. My latest in @biographic.bsky.social. www.biographic.com/welcome-to-t...
biographic.com
Welcome to the Great Bear Sea
After decades of discord, Canada and First Nations are working together to build a network of marine protected areas stretching from Vancouver Island to Alaska.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
#ThrowbackThursday My first story for Hakai. 👻🐻‍❄️ hakaimagazine.com/news/to-a-sa...
hakaimagazine.com
To a Salmon’s Eye, Spirit Bears Have Natural Camouflage | Hakai Magazine
Salmon are much more likely to avoid a black bear-shaped object than a white one.
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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 25/06/2025
Note to freelancers: I'm open to pitches for @nationalobserver.com! We pay pretty well, and we're flexible with timelines for assigned stories. I don't need a long pitch — think 2 paragraphs — but please give an idea of what your story is. Some recently published freelance pieces:
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
My first story for New Scientist! 🐬 Turns out it's not just humans that like feeding other animals. The tables have turned.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
It’s not just humans that love feeding other animals! A new study documents killer whales trying to feed seabirds, rays, and fish to humans. The behavior shows that kindness and curiosity are more than just human traits. 🐬🍽️ www.newscientist.com/article/2486...
newscientist.com
What does it mean when an orca wants to share its lunch with you?
Researchers have documented orcas seemingly gifting rays, seals and fish to scientists and divers, which could suggest they have theory of mind and engage in altruism – even across species
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
In remote forests of west Africa, wildlife traffickers are filling orders for hundreds of hornbill skulls. The bulbous-billed birds are protected in Asia, but conservationists now worry the market has shifted to African birds. My latest for @nautil.us nautil.us/the-hornbill...
nautil.us
The Hornbills Left Behind
Protecting Asian species may have shifted poachers’ focus to African birds
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bioGraphic @biographic.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Each summer, we publish the best shots from the BigPicture Photography Competition, along with the stories behind the shots. From self-heating plants to land-dwelling fish, this year's winners highlight the remarkable diversity of life on Earth. Take a look 👇 📸 🧪
biographic.com
The Big Picture 2025 - bioGraphic
From the beautiful to the bizarre, this annual photographic showcase shines a light on some of our planet’s most breathtaking species and places.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Uji, the world's top destination for matcha, has sold out of the green tea powder. Have tourists taken the matcha madness too far? 🍵❌ A couple of my observations from Japan, for BBC Travel. www.bbc.com/travel/artic...
bbc.com
Who drank all the matcha? How tourism drained a Japanese town
In Uji, Japan's historic matcha capital, demand for premium green tea is outpacing supply. As tourists scramble for tins, locals fear that tradition may be getting diluted.
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
You'd think that with a grapefruit-sized eyeball, humpbacks would be able to see the nets they swim in to. But a dissection shows why whale vision may not be so simple. My latest:
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
So excited for first story with @sciam.bsky.social! Baby pilot whales have been spotted swimming among a pod of orcas three times now. But were the interactions predatory or playful? 👶🐬🤷‍♀️ www.scientificamerican.com/article/icel...
scientificamerican.com
Baby Pilot Whales Are Swimming with Iceland's Orcas. No One Knows Why
Newborn pilot whales have been spotted mysteriously swimming among pods of orcas. Scientists are trying to puzzle out how the pilot whale calves got there and what happened to them
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Marina Wang @marinacoladas.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
This team puts so much thought and effort into each story they put out. In this day and age, it's so important to support deeply researched thoroughly reported journalism.
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