- All articles

All articles

- How H5N1 Went from an Illness in Wild Birds to a Global Pandemic Threat: Jun 2025

- How Bird Flu Went from Devastating Poultry Farms to Infecting Dairy Herds: Jun 2025

- Creating Bird Flu Vaccines for Humans at a Biosecure Laboratory: Jun 2025

- Science Crossword: On the Fly: Jul 2025

JUN 23, 2025, 6:00 AM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

How Bird Flu Became a Human Pandemic Threat

The first hints that a new strain of avian illness is emerging could be found on this beach on Delaware Bay, where migrating birds flock. Here’s what virus detectives who return there every year know right now.

By Lauren J. Young, Jeffery DelViscio, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura & Rachel Feltman

Jeffery DelViscio/Scientific American

Lauren J. Young is an associate editor for health and medicine at Scientific American. She has edited and written stories that tackle a wide range of subjects, including the COVID pandemic, emerging diseases, evolutionary biology and health inequities. Young has nearly a decade of newsroom and science journalism experience. Before joining Scientific American in 2023, she was an associate editor at Popular Science and a digital producer at public radio’s Science Friday. She has appeared as a guest on radio shows, podcasts and stage events. Young has also spoken on panels for the Asian American Journalists Association, American Library Association, NOVA Science Studio and the New York Botanical Garden. Her work has appeared in Scholastic MATH, School Library Journal, IEEE Spectrum, Atlas Obscura and Smithsonian Magazine. Young studied biology at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, before pursuing a master’s at New York University’s Science, Health & Environmental Reporting Program.

Jeffery DelViscio is currently chief multimedia editor/executive producer at Scientific American. He is former director of multimedia at STAT, where he oversaw all visual, audio and interactive journalism. Before that he spent more than eight years at the New York Times, where he worked on five different desks across the paper. He holds dual master's degrees in journalism and in Earth and environmental sciences from Columbia University. He has worked onboard oceanographic research vessels and tracked money and politics in science from Washington, D.C. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. His work has won numerous awards, including two News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

Fonda Mwangi is a multimedia editor at Scientific American. She previously worked as an audio producer at Axios, The Recount and WTOP News. She holds a master’s degree in journalism and public affairs from American University in Washington, D.C.

Alex Sugiura is a Peabody and Pulitzer Prize–winning composer, editor and podcast producer based in Brooklyn, N.Y. He has worked on projects for Bloomberg, Axios, Crooked Media and Spotify, among others.

Rachel Feltman is former executive editor of Popular Science and forever host of the podcast The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. She previously founded the blog Speaking of Science for the Washington Post.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-h5n1-went-from-an-illness-in-wild-birds-to-a-global-pandemic-threat on Jul 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM EDT.

JUN 25, 2025, 6:00 AM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

Why Dairy Farmers Were Surprised by Bird Flu Cases in Their Herds

The bird flu was long known to poultry farmers. Here’s why the dairy industry was caught off guard by its jump to cattle.

By Meghan Bartels, Jeffery DelViscio, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura & Rachel Feltman

Dairy cows inside the Teaching Dairy Barn at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Jeffery DelViscio/Scientific American

Meghan Bartels is a science journalist based in New York City. She joined Scientific American in 2023 and is now a senior news reporter there. Previously, she spent more than four years as a writer and editor at Space.com, as well as nearly a year as a science reporter at Newsweek, where she focused on space and Earth science. Her writing has also appeared in Audubon, Nautilus, Astronomy and Smithsonian, among other publications. She attended Georgetown University and earned a master’s degree in journalism at New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program.

Jeffery DelViscio is currently chief multimedia editor/executive producer at Scientific American. He is former director of multimedia at STAT, where he oversaw all visual, audio and interactive journalism. Before that he spent more than eight years at the New York Times, where he worked on five different desks across the paper. He holds dual master's degrees in journalism and in Earth and environmental sciences from Columbia University. He has worked onboard oceanographic research vessels and tracked money and politics in science from Washington, D.C. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. His work has won numerous awards, including two News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

Fonda Mwangi is a multimedia editor at Scientific American. She previously worked as an audio producer at Axios, The Recount and WTOP News. She holds a master’s degree in journalism and public affairs from American University in Washington, D.C.

Alex Sugiura is a Peabody and Pulitzer Prize–winning composer, editor and podcast producer based in Brooklyn, N.Y. He has worked on projects for Bloomberg, Axios, Crooked Media and Spotify, among others.

Rachel Feltman is former executive editor of Popular Science and forever host of the podcast The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. She previously founded the blog Speaking of Science for the Washington Post.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-bird-flu-went-from-devastating-poultry-farms-to-infecting-dairy-herds on Jul 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM EDT.

JUN 27, 2025, 6:00 AM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

This is How We Fight Bird Flu If H5N1 Becomes the Next Human Pandemic

This San Antonio, Tex., lab takes biosecurity seriously. Suit up with its scientists and go behind the scenes of the science of vaccine creation.

By Naeem Amarsy, Jeffery DelViscio, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura & Rachel Feltman

Naeem Amarsy/Scientific American

Naeem Amarsy is a documentary filmmaker and multimedia editor based in New York City.

Jeffery DelViscio is currently chief multimedia editor/executive producer at Scientific American. He is former director of multimedia at STAT, where he oversaw all visual, audio and interactive journalism. Before that he spent more than eight years at the New York Times, where he worked on five different desks across the paper. He holds dual master's degrees in journalism and in Earth and environmental sciences from Columbia University. He has worked onboard oceanographic research vessels and tracked money and politics in science from Washington, D.C. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. His work has won numerous awards, including two News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

Fonda Mwangi is a multimedia editor at Scientific American. She previously worked as an audio producer at Axios, The Recount and WTOP News. She holds a master’s degree in journalism and public affairs from American University in Washington, D.C.

Alex Sugiura is a Peabody and Pulitzer Prize–winning composer, editor and podcast producer based in Brooklyn, N.Y. He has worked on projects for Bloomberg, Axios, Crooked Media and Spotify, among others.

Rachel Feltman is former executive editor of Popular Science and forever host of the podcast The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. She previously founded the blog Speaking of Science for the Washington Post.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/creating-bird-flu-vaccines-for-humans-at-a-biosecure-laboratory on Jul 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM EDT.

JUL 15, 2025, 7:28 PM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

Science Crossword: On the Fly

By Aimee Lucido

Aimee Lucido makes crosswords part-time for several outlets and writes trivia full-time for Bloomberg's news quiz, Pointed. She is also the author of several books for kids, including Emmy in the Key of Code, Recipe for Disaster, and Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta. Lucido lives with her husband, daughter and dog in New York.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-crossword-on-the-fly on Jul 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM EDT.

Table of Contents

Scientific American: August 2025 Vol. 2, Issue 1

All articles

How H5N1 Went from an Illness in Wild Birds to a Global Pandemic Threat: Jun 2025

How Bird Flu Went from Devastating Poultry Farms to Infecting Dairy Herds: Jun 2025

Creating Bird Flu Vaccines for Humans at a Biosecure Laboratory: Jun 2025

Science Crossword: On the Fly: Jul 2025