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Sofia Avritzer

@sofiavritzer.bsky.social
174 followers 405 following 13 posts

Brazilian PhD student studying fruit fly navigation in the Maimon Lab The Rockefeller Univiversity, previously at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais | She/Her

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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Earlier this year, California’s Death Valley was overrun by a superbloom. I visited the park in late March. It was incredible to see the desert all covered in purple and yellow flowers – and I wrote a short piece about it for Science News Explores. www.snexplores.org/article/scie...
snexplores.org
Scientists Say: Superbloom
These massive wildflower blooms create colorful carpets over desert landscapes during unusually rainy years.
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
If you've ever wondered what makes a LLM 'memorize' information, and spit it back out word-for-word, you should read this new piece by @peterha2l.bsky.social!
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Happy to share my first story for @nature.com, looking at an aspect of science that doesn’t get discussed enough: retractions that happen because scientists discover honest mistakes in their work. I spoke with researchers who chose to self-retract about what helped them get through the process.
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
So excited to share a story I wrote for @snexplores.bsky.social on how some animals make themselves (almost) invisible - and why humans can't do the same! My last piece written as a @aaasmassmedia.bsky.social, and probably the one I had the most fun working on. www.snexplores.org/article/how-...
snexplores.org
Is it possible to be invisible?
Fiction is full of characters with the power to vanish. But some animals have real-life ways to become nearly invisible.
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Highly recommend the @aaasmassmedia.bsky.social program for any scientists who want a behind-the-scenes look at how science journalism works!
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
So excited to share a comic I wrote out on @snexplores.bsky.social! Flamingos make underwater whirlpools with their heads and feet to catch shrimp 🦩🌀 Written during my @aaasmassmedia.bsky.social this summer: www.snexplores.org/article/flam.... Beautiful illustrations by the amazing JoAnna Wendel!
snexplores.org
Flamingos hunt by creating their own underwater tornadoes
Chilean flamingos use their beaks and feet to create underwater whirlpools that suck in prey.
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
@natastron.nature.com's beautiful September cover shows the first ever image of a dying start that exploded twice on it's way to become a type 1a supernova. I got to write about this really cool discovery this summer for @sciencenews.bsky.social. www.sciencenews.org/article/supe...
sciencenews.org
In a first, an image shows a dying star exploded twice to become a supernova
The image offers the first evidence for a previously unconfirmed origin story of type 1a supernovas.
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
🪰 How some flies turned vomiting into a romantic gesture An unusual courtship behavior evolved by borrowing neurons controlling vomiting into the neural circuit that guides courtship. As a fruit fly neuroscientist myself, this story was especially fun. www.sciencenews.org/article/barf...
sciencenews.org
A single protein makes lovesick flies spill their guts
Producing a male-specific protein in digestion-related neurons may have led to the evolution of an odd “romantic” barfing behavior in one species of fruit flies.
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
💊 FDA might remove black box label from some menopausal hormone treatments I covered an expert panel the FDA held on menopausal hormone therapies along with my mentor for the summer, Tina Saey. We took a look at the science behind the panel’s discussion. www.sciencenews.org/article/fda-...
sciencenews.org
U.S. FDA may nix black box warning on some menopause estrogen treatments
Experts worry the warning on vaginal estrogen menopause treatments is doing more harm than good and is not supported by science.
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
I also adapted this story for a K-12 audience: www.snexplores.org/article/new-...
snexplores.org
New clues about dino speed come from birds strutting through mud
Fossilized footprints can help calculate how fast dinosaurs moved. But tests with guinea fowl show that past estimates might not be right.
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
🦖 Were dinosaurs as fast as we thought? What can mud-running guineafowl teach us about dinosaur speed? Turns out, quite a bit. Cool story about the limits of what we can know of an animal no one has ever seen — plus, it comes with some cute guineafowl videos. www.sciencenews.org/article/dino...
sciencenews.org
How fast did dinosaurs really go? Birds walking in mud provide new clues
Tracks of dinosaur footprints can hint at how fast the extinct animals moved. Here’s how guinea fowl can help fact-check those assumptions.
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to spend 10 weeks as a Mass Media Fellow with @aaas.org at @sciencenews.bsky.social. I wrote nine articles covering topics like astronomy, paleontology, neuroscience, human health and policy. Here are a few of the highlights:
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Sofia Avritzer @sofiavritzer.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
So excited to be one of the 2025 AAAS #MassMediaFellows! I can’t wait to spend my summer writing about cool science at @scinews.bsky.social. Very grateful to @aaas.org and the @heisingsimonsfdn.bsky.social for this opportunity!
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