Science writer - Medical writer - Biologist
I am a biologist from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and a science writer by vocation.
As a biologist in a family of humanists, I always thought of myself as the black sheep of the bunch. However, as soon as I started my undergraduate degree, the impulse to write about science to understand and discuss it arose in me. And so, the years taught me that talking science is as important as doing science, so I traded in my lab coat and field notes for a mouse and keyboard as I found in science communication another path.
I specialize in science communication through written media. I write journalistic articles, blogs, and technical or creative essays. I can also edit medical and technical texts.
This is a sample of my work.
In Mexico, we know the nutritional value of the prickly pear cactus because we find it commonly in traditional dishes; however, outside of human consumption, its use for livestock purposes is relatively unknown. Jesús Fuentes Rodríguez has found in the prickly pear cactus a way to hydrate and nourish livestock.
Since his youth, Luis Ernesto Miramontes knew he wanted to dedicate himself to something related to pharmacy and that it would be beneficial for people. In his youth, Miramontes made a discovery that would change history forever and trigger a sexual revolution. This is the story of the birth control pill.”
Biochemist Evangelina Villegas codeveloped Quality Protein Maize, a nutritionally fortified corn that was central to a period of intensive agricultural development called the “Green Revolution.”
What is life? The question may seem simple, but it isn’t. Biology has proposed various definitions depending on specific fields. While we know what is alive, we don’t necessarily know what makes it alive. In this essay, we explore the contradictions in the concept of what life is.
What is life? That was the question our professor asked us on the first day in college as a biology major. That day, we also learned that biology has no concrete answer for it. Years later, as my life plans crumbled under my expectations, the question came back: What is life? As the question unravelled, I realized that, in a way, studying life saved mine.
As the second-largest search engine in the world, YouTube has become one of the main sites for disseminating scientific knowledge, as well as a thriving hub for anti-science groups. If we want to attract more people to embrace scientific knowledge, it is key to understand what draws science deniers to their ranks and how some have managed to leave. As it turns out, empathy and community are crucial.
English is modern science’s common language, with up to 98% of scientific articles published in English. Most major scientific journals operate in this language, limiting a researcher’s success to their English competence. In some countries, such as Colombia, English proficiency is a privilege usually linked to a high-income background, while translation and editing services remain unattainable by most. To understand and minimize the gap in the global production and comprehension of science, it is crucial to address the hegemony of the English language as its main quality control.
“Once their manuscript is published, researchers have little say in how their articles are used. Particularly for environmental health scientists, the specific framing of an article can be used and twisted to back up different narratives, including ones that deviate significantly from what was originally intended. This paper aims to help scientists communicate research in socially responsible ways and minimize the risk of their work being taken out of context.
“What I would like to do with this award is to let the world know what we have developed. Because for me, as a Mexican, the greatest honor would be to see Mexico's fields overflowing with QPM corn.” Upon receiving the World Food Prize in 2000, the first Mexican to do so and the first woman in history to be awarded this recognition, Evangelina Villegas' mind traveled only to the green cornfields of her country and the superfood she developed with the aim of reducing global malnutrition.
Julieta Fierro was one of the most important scientists and science communicators Mexico has ever had. Her passion for astronomy and her mastery of language made her a huge influence on children and young people, inspiring them to pick up lab coats, microscopes, and telescopes. For this and much more, she is now remembered.
The March for Science was a series of worldwide rallies in 2017 to protest the misuse of science in government policies. A mobilization of these dimensions begs the question: What motivated so many to stand up for science, and what can we learn from this?
Leopoldo Río de la Loza (1807–1876) was a renowned chemist, a true polymath, and, above all, an austere nationalist who revolutionized Mexican chemistry and pharmaceuticals in the 19th century.
The constant bombardment of factual and false information demands a scientifically literate society to be well-informed and make better decisions. However, what once may have been sufficient to be scientifically literate may not be enough in today’s climate.
Knowing how to question science is only possible if you know how it works. In our times, with all kinds of information available through the Internet, it is urgent and necessary to learn to distinguish science from what is not. This text proposes some steps so that understanding how science studies what surrounds us does not become the task of a few.
English is modern science’s common language, with up to 98% of scientific articles published in English. Most major scientific journals operate in this language, limiting a researcher’s success to their English competence. In some countries, such as Colombia, English proficiency is a privilege usually linked to a high-income background, while translation and editing services remain unattainable by most. To understand and minimize the gap in the global production and comprehension of science, it is crucial to address the hegemony of the English language as its main quality control.
Eizi Matuda (1894–1978) was a botanist with a passion for Mexican plants. He took daring trips to rocky mountaintops to collect rare specimens for his herbarium and other botanical collections around the world. He was among one of the first groups of Japanese immigrants to arrive in Mexico as part of an agreement between the two countries to modernize through cultural and economic exchange.
Alejandra Jáidar was Mexico's first physicist. During her career, she innovated science and its communication. Although she passed away in 1988, the country continues to benefit from her contributions.
León Alfonso de Garay dedicated his life to genetics and radiobiology, with special emphasis on promoting their study in the country (Mexico). He believed that international collaborations were the best way to exchange and strengthen knowledge. And what better way to attract the attention of the whole world than with the Olympics to be held in Mexico in 1968.
Jacobo Isaac Ochoterena y Mendieta was a self-taught scientist who created new programs for biology education and research in 20th-century Mexico.
One of the most prolific botanists of the 20th century, Bravo-Hollis was the first woman to receive an advanced degree in biology in Mexico.
From his native Japan to the 56 years he lived in Mexico, Matuda never for a moment abandoned his passion and admiration for plants. For this reason, he should not only be considered as one of the most dedicated foreign researchers but also as one of the most committed Mexicans to the development of botany and the study of the marvelous Mexican flora.
Nabor Carrillo was a reactor in Mexico for the development of nuclear sciences. Now his physical remains rest in the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons, his name in the nuclear research center, in the lake that gave our country its foundation, thousands of kilometers away in a crater on the Moon that the International Astronomical Union named in his honor, and his memory and knowledge in so many fields of knowledge that it is difficult to name them all.
At the age of 51, and having lost everything she had built in her life, Ynés Mexia found in her passion for plants her true vocation and became the most prolific collector and researcher of her time, with no one coming close to stepping on her toes.
When I was 23 years old, I lost my silence. It was way harder than one might expect when losing something that wasn’t there. Instead, I started hearing a ringing. A ghost sound named tinnitus that ironically wasn’t real either, but its everlasting presence wouldn’t let me think otherwise. Silence was something that I cherished enormously, but its absence made me realize the immense weight that we put into intangibles, especially in the acoustic world. It’s a loud cry that signals the beginning of a life, which then ends with silence. There are silences of complicity, awkward silences, minutes of silence to show solidarity and some of our biggest punishments are solitary confinement and cancel culture. We acknowledge sound everywhere we exist, and I think silence should be broken, as it was broken in me, to recognize its value."
Few people in history manage to carry the unnoticed weight that Isaac Ochoterena did. This man, completely self-taught and staunchly passionate about science, took the reins of biology teaching in a Mexico rising from the Revolution and turned it into an institution. And almost a hundred years after this process began, the way biology is taught and practiced in the country still follows in his footsteps."
This year -2024- marks one hundred years since Helia Bravo Hollis obtained her biology degree from UNAM and became the first woman in the country to do so. She was one of the most outstanding botanists of her time; passionate about the study of life and a tenacious conservator of biodiversity, for this and much more she was known as the queen of cacti."
Meliponas are a large group of stingless bees that can be found in tropical and subtropical areas. For hundreds of years, the Mayan culture established a close relationship with meliponines that was reflected not only in their commerce and craft but also in their rich religion that was nourished by the worship and study of their "regal lady bee."
This is not the story of the discovery of electricity. Nor does it explain the beginnings of the use of electrical energy. But there is more to it than that. Here we find that the wonders of nature play the same game as we do. In other words, there are no states or elements reserved solely for the gods on Mount Olympus; the laws of physics and the natural world are truly universal, and it is possible to try to understand them.
There’s no better way to break the ice when walking our pets than to start talking about their ages; however, aside from being a conversation starter, calculating the hypothetical relative age of our dogs has very little practical value, so why do we do it? How far are we willing to go to offer something as personal as age to those we call our best friends?
The placenta, that maternal shelter and our first contact with life, is in part a virus. Millions of years have defined us as placental mammals, but it was the genetic addition of a non-animal agent that truly made us what we are today.
Since a few months ago, my perception of time has been hindered. The flow of hours has become ambiguous and inaccurate. The days have become exhausting and long, but also fleeting and ephemeral. Here is my challenge for the physicists: a sort of superposition of time. A period in which the days have passed incessantly and, at the same time, have been repeated since that day when a pandemic was sentenced.
Part title, part appellative, part incomplete poem, scientific names contain and represent an evolutionary journey of eons in just a few words. Like a kind of epigram, scientific names expose their bearers while encapsulating their nature in a couple of words. This is something that common names do not manage to do.
It is not hard to see why the nature of these fragile and relatively primitive animals has piqued the curiosity of writers and researchers for over a thousand years. An insect, of all things, symbolizes both, in its name and in its history, the fragility and transience of life.
The pupils of land animals come in many shapes. What is the relationship between their shape and their way of life?
Where most modern antimicrobials have failed, nanoparticles might be the alternative we needed to treat infections caused by super-resistant bacterial strains.
Biology is a profession rooted in asking questions. The curiosity that fuels research is the same curiosity that led us to ask ourselves, “What kind of creatures are we?”
The Cats' Tricolor Flag: What Does Coat Color Tell Us About Genetic Sex?
Nuevas regulaciones buscan controlar la participación de atletas mujeres con niveles de testosterona producidos naturalmente por encima del promedio, bajo el argumento de que estos pueden influir positivamente en el rendimiento. Sin embargo, los criterios científicos para validar esta decisión se encuentran bajo debate.